Ember and Rockwell: At the Beginning
by Sparky Jolteon
Summary: Enjoy the classic story of a young rocker girl and her faithful canine companion in this lively American tale. Despite all of life's ups and downs, they always find a way to come out strong and on top! Important backstory details for Ember and Rockwell are thoroughly explored, as well as relevant events from key "Danny Phantom" episodes and the "Colosseum"/"XD" Pokemon video games.
1. He's Just a Dog, and She's Just a Girl…

_Ember and Rockwell: At the Beginning_

A story by: Sparky L. Jolteon (completed on 8/1/16).

Overall story theme song: "Invincible" by Pat Benatar.

 **Chapter 1: "He's Just a Dog, and She's Just a Girl… How Very Obvious"**

 _Pitter patter pitter patter_. The sound of rain is all too familiar, as drop after drop of the stuff incessantly falls upon the car roof. Peering wistfully out the window, a pair of young girlish eyes watch every building, lamppost, and person go by, her gaze seeming empty and distant. _"Great… looks like another uneventful outing. There'd better be a good reason for all this,"_ the girl thinks, sighing as she slumps her chin into her hand, resting her head inside it in boredom. "Emily, we're almost there. Just a few more minutes," a voice says from the other side of the car seat before her. The girl cringes sharply at the mere mentioning of her real name, shrinking in her seat and rolling her eyes, a visibly irritated look on her face. "Mom, you know I hate being called that. Call me 'Ember.' That's what all my friends call me, and I like it so much better," Ember tells her. "And I know your birth name's so much more beautiful and sophisticated than some childish nickname. I should know, I named you," her mother replies smugly. "Aw come on! I didn't even ask to be born, let alone named, so why should I use _your_ name for me? I…" Ember protests. "Emily, that's enough. I don't want any more lip from you now, or we're turning around and heading back home. Consider this a warning," her father sternly interjects, stalling the vehicle at a red light intersection. _"You already ruined my birthday party yesterday, and now you silence me? Gee, thanks dad…,"_ Ember muses, her irritation compounded even more. Once the car gets moving again, another minute passes until the car eventually parks itself in a small lot, the façade of a pet store lying before it. "We're here. Let's go Emily," her mother prods, exiting the vehicle and joining her husband at the store's entrance, Ember lagging behind unsurprisingly. "Took you long enough. Let's head inside," states her mother.

Inside the pet store is far more vivacious than the gloomy rainy world outside it, with people shopping up and down the aisles and small animals of all kinds housed in display cases, some partially enclosed and others fully so. The shelves are stocked full of a wide variety of pet food, toys, and other supplies for creatures ranging from dogs and cats to iguanas and tarantulas, as well as the occasional Pokémon species, too. Some Pokémon-only items are for sale as well, including Pokéballs, potions, and status healing medications. Upon entering the store, Ember's eyes slowly widen as she takes a good long look around the place. She had never been somewhere quite like that before, and in a rare moment of serene curiosity, her interest was truly piqued the first time in a good long while. "Emily, you may choose any pet you see here as your final birthday gift, but one and only one. Try not to break the budget with your selection too, if you can resist," her father explains with a faint smirk. "Really? Any pet I want? Hmm… don't worry, I'm gonna make this count for sure!" Ember exclaims excitedly, briefly hugging her parents individually before running from enclosure to enclosure wildly, thoroughly examining each animal she sees before heading to the next.

Lying idly alone in the corner of his open enclosure, a small nameless Electrike waits hopelessly for someone's attention. He is noticeably underweight for his age, his countenance clearly dismal. He had been essentially living the same routine for the past two weeks since he first arrived at the store: eat, sleep, and hope someone happens to be interested in adopting him. His two enclosure companions, a Poochyena and a Vulpix, were not exactly the best company for him, since they often ignored or annoyed him for fun. Suddenly, he sees a young human girl running haphazardly about the store looking for a pet. _"Whoa, what's she doing? Could it be… she's looking for a new pet? This might be my lucky day!"_ he thinks, instantly leaping to his feet and smoothing the rough fur patches on his body with a moist paw to look his best. Ready for anything, he trots briskly to the side of the enclosure closest to the girl and wags his tail slowly, watching with much eager intent.

Eventually, Ember arrives at the small Electrike's open enclosure, noticing him almost immediately. "Well aren't you just a little cutie! You act like you already know me before you've really even met me," she says softly, smiling at him for a moment before turning her gaze toward the other two canines in his vicinity. Each time she did, though, the Electrike pup would whimper and draw her attention back to him again, wagging his tail vigorously and smiling widely, mouth partly open. The third time this happens, she gives in and approaches the playful pooch. "All right you, I'll play. C'mere!" Ember remarks with a clever smirk, reaching over the partition and grabbing the pup. He merrily licks her face and grins, panting lightly with his bright blue eyes radiating much youthful energy. "You're just so adorable! I'm keeping you for sure! What to name you, though…," she tells herself, lifting him up slightly to check his gender. "Yup, you're definitely a boy doggy!" she says, giggling to herself while he blushes under his facial fur in slight embarrassment. As she tries to think of a good name, she notices the store radio playing a familiar '80s song: "Somebody's Watching Me." "Hey, I know this song, and it started playing as soon as I set my eyes on you, little guy! Plus, you really won't stop watching me wherever I go, so it fits in that way, too. Who sings it again?" she remarks, waiting for the song to finish so the radio DJ will hopefully say the name of the artist before playing the next song. Surely enough, he does, and she smirks, holding the Electrike up to her face again and speaking to him, "That's right, I remember that guy's name, and since I can't think of a better name right now, it'll be yours: Rockwell!" Rockwell barks with joy as Ember shows him to her parents, they pay for him (in addition to a couple cheap toys and some dog food for obvious reasons), and they all leave the store together, actually seeming like a happy family – a welcome rarity – as they climb into their car and return home for the day. The whole ride there, a once sullen girl was now smiling warmly with her new pet in her arms and a once lonely pup was now lying peacefully upon the lap of his new young master.


	2. Taking You Home

**Chapter 2: "Taking You Home"**

The McLain household is located in uptown Amity Park in a subdivision known as Amity Heights. The neighborhood is a typical upper middle-class one, where lawns are well watered, lampposts are on every corner, and most every house has an ornate brick or stone pathway leading from the driveway to the front porch. Unsurprisingly, while some residents are indeed highly amicable, many are also rather pretentious and snooty. Ember's parents David and Mary are no exceptions, and Ember plainly could not stand them for portraying an attitude she considered to be phony and hypocritical. Look so good and act so self-righteous on the outside, especially on Sunday mornings, but they could not exemplify true moral character unless it benefited them financially for doing so (can you say "hello charity tax write off?"). While it was obvious they cared about their daughter at heart, they rarely showed it to her in a way she appreciated. To them, overprotecting their daughter from "the evil world" to an almost smothering level was far more important than trying to understand and love her for who she was inside and out. The only real thing she could credit them for besides the obvious essentials was her fledgling Christian faith, but since her parents strangled it greatly by their low treatment of her, she was never really allowed to grow in it throughout her childhood. Rockwell was similarly raised, though his parents were not quite as strict as Ember's. Still, his parents were a big part of the reason he ended up at that pet store to begin with, so he had much bitterness toward them for that. Today would be very different for both of them, since they were now living under the same roof together as owner and pet. It was destined to be a fun new experience for them, and they were ready to live it out loud the moment the family station wagon halted in the driveway.

"All right, we're home now boy! Follow me, I'll show you around," says Ember excitedly as she leads Rockwell out of the car, through the home's front door, and into her bedroom without a second thought. "This is my room! Well, it's _our_ room now, but anyway, this is my bed!" she explains as she runs up to her bed and falls backwards onto it, Rockwell trotting over to her and looking up at her from the floor, his tail wagging incessantly. Before she could continue, her mother threatens to kill the moment as she stands in the doorframe and scolds Ember for forgetting to wipe off or otherwise remove her shoes before running around the house unabated. "Sorry, I forgot. They're not really that dirty though, since the rain cleans them and such," Ember exclaims, removing her shoes one after the other. "That's beside the point. You know better than that around here. You'd also do well to teach your new dog the same," Mary retorts, pointing at the trail of wet paw prints leading from the front door to Ember's bedside. "Oh, yeah… Rockwell, you need to remember to wipe your paws well on the doormat before coming inside. It's a house rule," Ember informs him, sighing slightly while her mother walks away and mercifully relieves him of that task just this once. Getting up and shutting the door, Ember puts her shoes aside and looks at Rockwell. "You don't talk, do you?" she points out. "N… no, I do. I'm just really sh… shy," coyly replies the small pup, lowering his ears and frowning. "Aw, don't be shy. I'm gonna be your best friend, I promise!" she assures him, smiling. "O… okay! I trust you," he utters softly, jumping onto the bed on the second attempt (he slid miserably back to the floor on the first).

They have a lively discussion for some time, mostly about each of their upbringings, interests, and the rules of the household, to which Rockwell quickly warms up and relates to Ember. "Wait, you mean you can't even listen to music or play video games around here? That sounds _so_ boring!" he states, a look of sharp disapproval on his face. "Oh believe me, it is, but those aren't even the worst rules. The worst ones are probably the rule of having to spend a whole hour every day reading devotionals or Bible passages and the rule of earning your keep. I've got a list of over twelve different chores I have to do daily, except on Sundays since it's a sin to do them then, plus I've got schoolwork to deal with nine months a year. I've got like no free time half the time!" she reveals, rolling her eyes just thinking about it all. "Schoolwork? What's that like? Is it very hard?" he asks. "Nah, it's not usually that bad unless you don't understand what you're learning. For me, my toughest subject is math, but I'm still a B student in it most of the time. I remember one time last year when I got a D+ on a math test. I was grounded for a whole week for that," she tells him. "Hmm… I wanna help you with your school stuff Ember! Can I, can I? Pleeeeease?" he begs, tongue hanging out to the side cutely. "Oh all right, but you'd best be ready to learn everything I am. It'll probably be hard at first, but don't worry, I won't give up on you!" she replies with a chuckle and a wink.

After talking a while longer about miscellaneous subjects, Ember spends the rest of the day showing Rockwell where he is to go to the bathroom (using her old plastic toddler training toilet), where his food and water dish are, and what not to touch for fear of breaking or tearing them. They then spend some time playing fetch in the living room, nearly breaking an expensive vase as they do so. "Whoa, that was close! C'mon, let's go back to my room," Ember expresses with relief, playing fetch in her bedroom despite the enclosed space. Later that evening after getting ready for bed, the two of them talk about their names and about personal style. Ember explains that she hates her given name since it reminds her of her parents and sounds all "formal" and such, along with stereotypically ending in the normally feminine suffix _-y_. "Why can't more girls have names not ending in that annoying sound? It's so… babyish, you know?" she remarks. "Yeah, I get that, but how'd you get the name _Ember_?" he questions her curiously. "Heh, not too many people actually know this one. It's 'cause my friends called me it one time when we were camping. It was close to the Fourth of July, and I was lighting small fireworks like crazy, throwing some into our campfire for fun. Someone called me a pyromaniac and said my name should be _Ember_ rather than _Emily_ , since it sounded similar and fit so well. I've got a fiery passion for music anyway, despite not usually being able to listen to it around my parents," she recounts. "Ooh, I see… can I have a cool nickname too?" he inquires. Thinking for a moment, she responds, "Sure thing: how about Rocky? It's a natural nickname for Rockwell, I'd say. You like?" she suggests. "Yeah, that sounds great! Thanks Ember, er… Emmy! Heh heh, I can be clever too!" he notes, giggling ever so boyishly and nipping Ember's right index finger playfully. "You sure can, ha ha!" Ember agrees. She cannot help but laugh and smile at Rockwell's budding sense of humor.

"Ten o'clock, lights out you two," her father's voice resonates deeply from the other side of the door. "No choice but to obey the man, I'm afraid. There's no staying up late on weekends, either. At least we're already worn out though, right?" she says, removing her socks and casually tossing them by her shoes while Rockwell turns off the light after locating the light switch, although he must jump high to barely reach it. "What were those things for again?" he asks, since he was not yet familiar with the concept of wearing clothing personally. To some Pokémon, particularly wild ones, it was often regarded as optional and unnecessary: a purely human thing to do. However, as a domestic Pokémon, he was naturally obligated to follow human-governed social norms and customs whenever possible. "Oh, those were my socks. I have many pairs of them, in all different colors, too. They help keep my feet warm and clean. In case you're wondering, they're also not meant to be chew toys," she tells him before smirking at that last part. "Huh… that's kinda weird, but it makes sense, I guess. It's not like the color really matters much with that pair, since your feet are almost as white as your socks," he observes, snuggling up beside Ember beneath the bedsheets. She yawns before adding, "Yeah, my mom says it's the Scottish in me. I've always been pale as a ghost ever since I was born way back in 1980. Eleven years is a pretty long time when ya think about it, you know," she points out, carrying on to Rockwell a couple more minutes about the necessity and usage of each basic clothing type, including some with gender differences. "So girls can wear skirts and dresses, but boys can't, right?" he questions. "Yes, that's true. Don't ask me why it's like that 'cause I have no idea," she tells him. "Let's go to sleep now before it gets much later. We've got church in the morning. I highly doubt it, but I really hope the pastor preaches about how God created animals as human companions and helpers, since that'd go perfectly after I got you earlier today! We'll be sure to get you some good clothes of your own afterwards," she exclaims, lying her head down and falling fast asleep shortly thereafter, Rockwell tucked snugly by her side.

Bright and early the next morning, Rockwell wakes up at the sound of a nearby songbird chirping just outside Ember's bedroom window. _"So annoying! Stop tweeting you dumb bird!"_ a disturbed Rockwell thinks as he quietly slumps to the floor and walks over to the windowsill. It is a beautiful sunny autumn day, and abnormally warm for a late October day in Amity Park. Hearing footsteps shuffling about from her parents' bedroom upstairs, he decides to wake Ember before they do so she does not risk getting scolded by them again. In an instance of purely playful puppy-esque impishness, he decides to do so by moving to her bedside and licking the bottom of her overhanging foot. "Rocky!" Ember chimes, awakening instantly and giggling from the affectionate act. "Fine, I'm awake now. You could've just told me instead ya silly mutt," she continues, rolling her eyes but smirking at Rockwell as she does so. "I could've, but that was a lot funner!" he responds, smirking back at her all his own. Getting up, she gets dressed, washes up, and puts her shoes on, ready to go. "Pretty skirt Ember, but what am I supposed to wear?" he asks earnestly. Pausing to think for a moment, she decides, "You can wear some of my old baby clothes. Don't worry, not all of them are girly." Locating the aforementioned clothing and having Rockwell try on some of the less girly-looking ones, they eventually settle on a pair of white baby sneakers, a powder blue T-shirt, mauve pants, and an old unused diaper in place of underwear beneath his shorts (it was all they had and he was not yet fully toilet trained, anyway). They also needed to accommodate the fact that his canine feet did not fit comfortably in her old shoes due to anatomical differences, but they would have to do for now. They were able to ensure that his pants and diaper fit comfortably enough, though, but only after using heavy-duty scissors to cut a hole in each of them for his tail to protrude through. "Perfect! It fits you well, or at least well enough. How do you think you look?" she compliments him while he stands before her vanity mirror. "Kinda silly, but it's all right," he remarks, flicking his tail side to side for a moment until he feels comfortable enough in his attire. Just then, her father's voice is heard calling them to join them in the car to leave. Running side by side, the young Electrike and his young master go from the bedroom to the garage and from there to the backseat of the family vehicle, both readily prepared for their first church service attendance together.

The church the McLains attended was a large ornate Baptist church located on Amity Park's west side. Doctrinally, the church was sound, but they were also very traditionalist in nature. The majority of the annoying things Ember's parents enforced on her were heavily influenced by what was taught to them on how to raise children by their pastor, partly because they were loyal members and partly because they held him in such high regard, almost as if he were God's gift to this earth and could do no wrong. Arriving at the church right on time, all four of them take their seats in a pew near the front of the main sanctuary like usual. As the worship service begins, everyone rises to their feet and sings (or at least pretends to). Everyone except Ember and Rockwell, of course. "Stand up please," Mary tells her daughter. "Ugh… fine," Ember submits, rolling her eyes and doing so. Rockwell remains attentively sitting in his spot, though.

Adjacent to Rockwell to his immediate right is a young female Skitty and her elderly owner. The Skitty snickers at Rockwell the first time they exchange glances, giving him a bad vibe from the start. Halfway through the first song, the Skitty nips his tail when he is not looking. "Ah, hey!" he mutters, glaring straight at the pesky feline. The next time this happens about five minutes later, the Skitty bites harder than before, nearly drawing blood. "OW! Gr… stupid cat!" Rockwell snarls, baring his teeth defensively at the Skitty. "Hee hee hee!" the Skitty taunts him, leaping upon her owner's lap and faking distress in an effort to get Rockwell in trouble. "Such a vicious little beast! Stay back!" the old lady scolds him, attracting the attention of a few others nearby, including Ember. "Rocky, what's wrong? Why's she acting like that?" Ember asks her precious pup, exchanging semi-hostile glances with the lady. "Emmy, she bit my tail twice, and the last time, it really hurt!" he whimpers, showing her the frayed fur on his tail where the Skitty bit him. "Oh my gosh, hey lady! Your cat's hurting my dog!" Ember alerts her, holding Rockwell closer to her. "Balderdash! He was threatening my little girl first! She'd never hurt a fly, would you my sweet baby darling?" the old lady defends, stroking her Skitty's fur. Sighing, Ember faces Rockwell and assures him she believes his claim even though she did not see it firsthand. "If she does it again, you let me know, okay?" she requests, to which he nods and continues watching the service, keeping a close eye on the Skitty in his peripheral vision. Near the end of the last song, though, the Skitty gets in position and strikes once more, this time succeeding in drawing blood as she bites Rockwell's tail hard in the same spot for the third successive time. He yelps, growls defensively, and pounces, knocking the Skitty off the pew and onto the floor, the old lady shrieking dramatically as pencils, envelopes, and her hymnal are scattered every which way. He then chases the Skitty into the aisle and up to the front of the pulpit, barking loudly the entire time and stopping only when the Skitty crawls underneath the stage in an area too tight for Rockwell to access.

"Ember, isn't that your new dog? Go get him this instant or you're grounded!" David demands as he drags Ember by the hand into the aisle beside him. "Ouch, fine, I'm getting him already, sheesh!" she responds, yanking her hand out of his and approaching the pulpit just as the pastor takes his spot there, showing obvious disgust with the great distraction of this girl and her pet, the congregation gasping at what had just occurred. "Such insolent youth are exactly what's wrong with our present society. Fortunately, I'm altering today's message to fit such a frightful travesty of proper church behavior," announces Pastor Crooke. _"Oh no, you did not just say that…_ , _"_ Ember thinks, taking Rockwell into her arms and carrying him back to their seat and shrinking into it together, hoping to lose the attention of as many onlookers as possible. Her parents are both visibly angered, but maintain their composure for the sake of their fellow attendees. "Uh-oh, something tells me there's gonna be backlash for this later at home," Ember whispers in Rockwell's ear. "Yeah… probably, but hey, at least the old lady and her dumb cat moved!" he states with a nervous chuckle. Noticing Ember glaring back at him, he sighs, hangs his head, and mumbles, "S… sorry Ember."

As the service progresses, the pastor rails on spoiled undisciplined American children, as well as pets for good measure, much to Ember and Rockwell's chagrin. Her parents shot both of them dirty looks every time an apt description of their behavior earlier was mentioned, alienating them both little by little as the sermon continues. It was the concluding statements, though, that set them off once and for all: "So everyone, just remember to raise your children properly, or they might end up like young Emily and her savage beastie here. After all, God once mandated rebellious children and animals be put to death for good reason. Therefore, don't let this happen to your family, lest you risk provoking the wrath of God upon your own kin!" That being said and everyone staring disapprovingly at them both, Ember rises to her feet, takes Rockwell in her arms, and marches toward the exit, shouting, "YOU DON'T POINT PEOPLE OUT BY NAME LIKE THAT!" The sanctuary fills with much idle chatter and gossip following their abrupt departure, with David and Mary being publicly humiliated and chastised for their supposedly allowing this to happen unopposed. Before leaving, the pastor and a few of his cronies privately meet with the McLains, threatening their coveted membership statuses should such an event ever happen again and rebuking them harshly. Mary leaves the church in tears, David right behind her saying anything he can to try to comfort her, however futilely it proves. They meet up with Ember and Rockwell at their car, both of them scrambling into the backseat and hiding themselves whenever possible from her parents' bitter glances. "Rockwell, when we get home, no matter what happens, know that I stand by you in retrospect all the way. Okay?" Ember calms him, his fearful shaking slowly waning as they get closer and closer to home. "E… Ember, no matter what happens later, I… I'm sorry and I love you no matter what!" he informs her, sniffling weakly and nuzzling her chest comfortingly.

Back home, Ember and Rockwell jump out of the car before it even stops moving, run under the still opening garage door, and into the door leading inside the house, Ember slamming it behind them. They then go to her bedroom, locking and barricading the door behind them with whatever they can, including the heavy vanity. "Okay, we should be safe in here for now. Just ignore their yelling, and we'll get through this together… I hope," Ember tells Rockwell, hiding in her closet with that door shut and locked too just in case, the lights off in both there and the room itself. Sure enough, much yelling does occur, with threats being made and punishments issued, but within the hour, everything seems to die down. "No dinner, huh? That sucks, but we can hold out 'til they're asleep. It'll be tough, but we can do it boy. At least you've still got your food dish in here, though there's not much left now," she consoles him, waiting out the hours passing the time through conversation, play, and anything else they can discover to do, including teaching Rockwell how to stand and walk on two legs independently instead of exclusively using all four. By the time night falls, both of them, particularly Ember, are thoroughly famished. "Just a few more hours now… we can do it!" she notes with a half-smile. Eventually, the time comes for them to make their move to the kitchen at the top of the eleventh evening hour. "Okay, they should've been asleep for nearly an hour by now. Let's go quietly as possible just in case," she whispers, removing her socks and putting them on Rockwell's hindpaws. "Here, these'll help mask the sound of your claws pitter-pattering on the hardwood floor. Besides, I don't need them for the kitchen since the floor in there's especially slick and difficult to manage with only socks. Skin and rubber grip much better, I've found," she explains quietly, slowly moving the vanity back to its original position, unlocking the door, and sneaking stealthily into the kitchen with nary a peep from her parents.

"All right, we made it! Great work boy!" she praises Rockwell with a smile, giving a baggy filled with fresh kibble to him and taking a premade turkey sandwich for herself. Nevertheless, as they sneak back to her room as silently as they came, she finds her father standing in the center of her room, looking more visibly disappointed and furious than either of them has seen yet, both of their hearts sinking in dreadful surprise at the mere sight of him waiting there. "What happened?" he demands, not hesitant in the slightest. "Wait, you mean this morning? It was that old lady's stupid cat that started it all. She was hurting Rockwell and he was just defending himself! Sure, he could've handled it differently, but he's just a pup and he's still got a lot to learn!" she explains, taking a small bite of her sandwich. "Humph, he's not the only one still with a lot to learn… anyway, why would you cause such a racket during the middle of a sermon? Have you no shame nor sense of respect for that which is duly sacred?" he interrogates her without remorse. "Sacred? Do you consider calling us out in public like that sacred?!" she argues, motioning at her nervous pup as he tries hard to eat his food. "Besides, how the heck did you even hear us? We were totally silent the whole time!" she adds. "Let's just say that a hidden walkie-talkie is a lot more useful than it sounds, but that's beside the point! You ruined the service for no good reason, the both of you, and for that, terrible things transpired! Do you realize that your mother and I were nearly kicked out of the church because of your ignorant atrocity? She was in tears when we left, you may recall!" he bellows, getting up and slowly approaching Ember. She slowly backs up as he approaches, and when he gets close enough, he swipes the sandwich out of her hand and onto the floor angrily. "I said no dinner, and that's final!" he snaps, startling her and Rockwell in near unison. "That goes for you too mongrel!" he adds, turning to Rockwell and snatching the bag of kibbles from his grasp, spilling a lot of them across the floor. "Now, apologize for what you did earlier, clean up this mess, and go to sleep at once, no questions asked!" he orders. "But you made the mess, not me! Why should I have to do that?" she resists, Rockwell cowering behind her legs shivering. "I said no questions asked!" he iterates while striking Ember across the face. "OW!" she cries, the force from the blow knocking her off her feet and onto the floor. "Ember, no!" Rockwell shouts, gathering much resolve and standing between Ember and her father as he attempts to approach her again to deliver another blow. "St… stay back, you b…big m… meanie!" he challenges, his little legs shaking intensely as he snarls viciously in Ember's defense at the enraged pater. "You dare stand between me and my daughter you vile cur?" he insults Rockwell, completely unamused and raising his leg to kick Rockwell hard. However, before he can land his blow, Rockwell feels an unexpected sensation take over his body before unleashing what technically amounts to a strong thundershock attack at David, his body still crackling for several seconds afterwards and fur spiked out horizontally in a streamlined fashion. David instantly slumps to the floor uncontrollably, writhing in pain and spitting out the occasional curse as he lies there temporarily paralyzed from the sudden shock.

"Whoa… what was that?" Rockwell exclaims curiously. "I… I dunno… but whatever it was, it saved me from any further harm! Rocky, thank you boy! Thank you so very much!" Ember happily states, rising to her feet again and hugging Rockwell, him licking her face lovingly in return. "What about your dad? He's not gonna KILL us now, is he?" he inquires, looking at her father's suffering. "Nah, probably not. He's not THAT cruel," she reveals. Just then, her mother rushes downstairs and tends to her father. "I don't know what happened, but whatever you two did, I'll find out and be sure to deal with it somehow! Just… OH, get out of our sights!" Mary shouts, helping her father back to bed again once the paralysis fully wears off several minutes later. Although they would normally never do so, Ember and Rockwell feel somewhat bad for her father and thus actually follow his instructions to clean up the food mess before they go to sleep for the night sometime afterward, each saying a silent prayer for themselves and her father.

The next day, Ember heads to school while Rockwell is forced to stay home, since her private school has a strict "no pets" zero tolerance policy (unless said pet is also enrolled of their own accord). All day long, Ember daydreams of being home with Rockwell while Rockwell likewise does the same, in between the annoying chores (and no, these are not the same chores as Ember's) Mary finds for him to do around the house as punishment for what happened the night before despite it being an accident and purely in Ember's defense. "Aw, really? No fair, I hate this!" he whines, rolling his eyes when Mary responds, "It's for your own good little dearie. You'll understand someday when you're older and hopefully much more disciplined than you are now." After Ember leaves school for the day, she returns home to rendezvous with Rockwell. "How was your day Emmy?" he questions, lamenting how badly his sucked due to all the chores. "Well at least you didn't have to suffer being made fun of all day like I did. Even a few of my friends teased me about what happened at church the other day. Some friends they are!" she exclaims with a quiet sniffle and forlorn expression, Rockwell giving her a caring nuzzle to help cheer her up a bit. "Anyway, let's go get your new clothes boy! It'll be fun, and I promise I'll help make you look as cool as a dog can be! No more wearing my ridiculous baby clothes," she excitedly declares, taking him by the paw, into the car, and awaiting her mother to drive them to the local mall.

"Come Rocky, there's a hip doggy fashion store I wanna show you!" Ember says as she enters the mall and leads him there. The store (called Cool Canines and Company) is fairly empty since it is a Monday afternoon, but that works out perfectly for them so they can buy their merchandise quickly once they have decided upon it. "Hmm… black or blue?" Ember asks Rockwell about a new T-shirt style. "Uh…," he utters. "Just kidding! You're getting both!" she states with a girlish giggle, him making a silly face at this and giggling too. Half an hour later, they have finished their shopping spree and have chosen some really stylish urban wear for Rockwell. He is highly elated to have his own image rather than someone else's reappropriated as his own like before, with Ember pointing out the intrinsic importance of individuality in the modern era. "See, even your underwear can make a statement! Of course, that's if anyone actually sees it, but you can at least brag about it without showing it off," she explains. "Ooh, I see," he notes. Once their mother has purchased their items (after removing a few she found "too edgy" for her conscience to permit buying), including some very epic shades for Rockwell, they return home to relax and review their selections. "We did pretty well overall, I'd say. How 'bout you boy?" Ember asks him. "Yeah, I… I guess so!" he agrees. Shortly thereafter, David returns home from work and picks up Mary, telling them to stay out of trouble while they run a few important errands. They accept their responsibility of "not burning down the house" and such (since Ember's a known pyro) as they bid her parents adieu for the time being.

Once they are sure they are alone, Ember makes sure every door leading from the inside and outside of the house is locked, goes into her bedroom with Rockwell at her side, and locks her door shut, too. "Good, we're alone. Rocky, I'm gonna show you the amazing awesome thing that is music! You can try on your clothes while dancing to it, too. I know, I'll get some of my nicer clothes and do the same! C'mon, it'll be fun!" she proclaims, getting out both of their clothing sets and turning her radio/cassette player on. "Ooh, here's a cool song for you Rockwell! Even though it's still daytime, it'll do!" she remarks, turning up the volume of the Corey Hart song "Sunglasses at Night." To this, he barks happily and puts on his new sunglasses, looking absolutely stunning in them. Ember cannot help but smile as he struts in front of her vanity mirror, marveling at his newfound appearance. The next song that comes on the radio, Roxette's "The Look," prompts Ember to dress up in some of her more fashionable clothes for fun, Rockwell doing the same both with and without the cool shades. "Ha ha ha, you've got the look Rockwell!" she states playfully. "Yeah, I've got the look! I've got the look! Rawr!" he concurs, grinning. Next on the air is Madonna's "Vogue," to which they strike cool poses to throughout the song at specific points, as dictated in part by the lyrics. "All right, you go girl! Go Ember! Go Ember!" he chants repeatedly, Ember's ego being stroked rather well by this. "Uh-huh, that's right. I'm the star! Say my name!" she flatters herself, spinning in place and stopping perfectly in time to the song's end. As the station goes to commercial break, she gets out her hidden _Like a Virgin_ Madonna cassette tape, fast-forwards to track six, and presses play while "Dress You Up" blares from the stereo. During each chorus, she literally dresses up Rockwell in a new outfit. "Nice! You're such a cool doggy Rocky boy!" she praises him, petting him gently on the head while he barks and smiles, wagging his tail gleefully. Finally, she turns on the radio again, just in time to catch the beginning of Journey's hit "Only the Young." "We ARE the young, Emmy! Aroo!" he yells and howls respectively, jumping a few times in total excitement. "You know it Rocky!" she echoes, pausing to explain to him what an air guitar is and how to "play" it. "Here, copy me!" she instructs, pretending to rock out to the song's guitar solo segment, Rockwell copying her almost perfectly, surprising for his first run. "Wow boy, you did very well! I'm pretty amazed, since that was only your first time doing this," she exclaims with a nod and a wink. "I think you might be born to play the guitar!" she adds, beaming over his "performance." "Whoa, you really think so?" he questions uncertainly. "Think so? I KNOW so!" she insists. With that distinct possibility in mind, he daydreams wildly, practicing his air guitar long after the song ends and Ember turns off the radio and puts away their stuff.

Soon thereafter, her parents return home while they return back to their usual much more boring expected behavior, fooling her parents perfectly in thinking that nothing questionable or exciting transpired while they were away. "Very well, everything seems to be in order. For once," David relays to Mary once he finishes his house-wide inspection. A few minutes later, the doorbell rings, both of them answering it together. It is the McLains' elderly next door neighbor, Mrs. Hagsworth. "I don't know what kind of Christians you are, but all I know is that I when I was watering my garden earlier, I heard loud rock music playing from your daughter's room while you were both away. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your entire household was heathen for allowing such deplorable behavior!" she reveals, citing Madonna as the only artist whose voice she could actually recognize to any noticeable extent. Mrs. Hagsworth leaves after she finishes telling her tale to the McLains, and an angry father and mother walk straight into Ember's room without even the slightest hesitation. "Emily! Is it true that you were listening to loud rock music while we were gone? You know it's strictly forbidden in this household!" David irately accuses her. Hanging her head slightly, Ember admits, "Yes, I was, but it was only for a little while. Besides, Rockwell's an awesome air guitarist! Isn't that right boy?" "Yeah, that's right!" he accords, flicking his tail with a slight smirk. "That's beside the point! You broke a rule, and you did so deliberately, with Rockwell acting as your accomplice. As punishment, you lose your radio privileges for the rest of the week, and Rockwell loses his bacon biscuits for the same time frame. Understood?" he tells them. "Yes…," Ember mumbles, Rockwell nodding in unhappy agreement. Removing the radio from the room, David shuts the door behind him and climbs the staircase on his way to the master bedroom. Putting the radio away on the highest shelf in his closet, he sighs and sits upon his side of the bed, his face in his hands. "Mary, where did we go wrong in raising this girl of ours? She's our only child, but she's been increasingly rebellious lately, interrupting the church service yesterday and violating her punishments left and right. Now, she's even been heard listening to that whore Madonna. What are we ever going to do about her?" he recounts. "I'm not completely sure myself honey, but remember to leave it to God and have faith that in due time, He will chasten her well and she'll finally learn to submit to His will fully and willingly. I do even despite these recent setbacks," Mary replies, placing her hand gently upon her husband's shoulder. He agrees and says a lengthy prayer for their daughter's soul as a couple.

That evening, Ember and Rockwell lie awake together awhile, discussing many various topics, ranging from movies to music to the upcoming annual observance of Halloween. "Uh, Ember, when the pastor mentioned that stuff about Heaven, what does he mean? Like, where is it and how do you get there and such?" Rockwell inquires, cocking his head slightly in that adorable canine way. "I'm not exactly sure where it is. Probably in another dimension or something. As far as how to get there, well… I'm pretty sure they say you get there by believing in Jesus as your Savior or something. That's what I've always heard, at least," Ember replies, stretching a bit. "Yeah, that's what I've always heard, too. I still believe that, though. Do you Emmy?" he questions. "I do. It's just… complicated. I mean, how are you supposed to believe in something you can't really see, hear, or anything else? I know nothing better to believe, and since Jesus was historically a great Person, I honestly wouldn't be surprised one bit that He's the Way and such. He's far better than any Christian I know, that's for sure. I just wish more Christians were like Him. If they were, I wouldn't be half as annoyed with them as I usually am," she admits with a long sigh. "Oh yes, I totally agree. Our parents are just so strict, I mean, where's the love of God in that, you know? I don't see it," he states. "Rocky, promise me if you're ever a parent someday, that you'll be much more loving and understanding than our parents are to us," she challenges him. "Oh I will, don't you worry!" he swears. "Good boy!" she remarks, petting him and chuckling weakly and adding, "They say all dogs go to Heaven, and if they're all anything like you at heart, I'd say so! It's also the name of a really cool movie I saw a couple years back with my uncle. He enjoyed it too, but my parents were very upset with him for taking me to see it. They complained that it was 'too demonic and blasphemous' for supposedly watering down the salvation message and other such silliness. As if! To be honest, if it wasn't for that film, I very likely wouldn't have accepted Christ shortly afterwards at our Christmas church service that year. They should at least give it credit for that, wouldn't you say?" "Oh yes, absolutely!" he responds, yawning and cuddling closer to her. "Speaking of being supposedly 'demonic,' Halloween's coming up in a few more days. My parents ban it outright, of course, but I usually find a way to sneak it somehow. Wanna come with when I do?" she offers him, a rebellious smirk upon her face. "Sure thing Emmy! You know I can't resist being sneaky with you!" he exclaims, wagging his tail gently and smiling. "Perfect, then we're decided: we're sneaking out together Halloween night!" she concludes. Satisfied by the breadth of their impish plans, they close their eyes and rest for the remainder of the night, dreaming of how much candy they will likely get this year.

Three nights later, Halloween has arrived, and many kids and adults alike all across the United States are celebrating the holiday. Amity Park is no exception, with children up and down the streets of most every neighborhood trick-or-treating door to door, hoping to make their next big candy score. However, as expected, Ember's parents disallow anything remotely related to the holiday in their household. "Such a wicked holiday! Why would anyone let their children, let alone themselves, even positively acknowledge such an evil day?" her father grumbles. "I agree dear. It's very much a terrible dreadful day. Besides, all candy does is serve to rot one's teeth that much quicker," her mother retorts. _"It's still fun though ya old killjoys…_ , _"_ Ember thinks, unamused by their stereotypically conservative viewpoint. Later that night, she and Rockwell fake being tired earlier than usual and tell her parents goodnight before heading to her bedroom, turning out the lights, and pretending to fall asleep until her parents are thoroughly convinced they are indeed sleeping for the night. At around 8:00 PM, they make their move, locking her bedroom door just in case and dressing up in the costumes they secretly got from her uncle the day before (they had visited him as a matter of routine). This year, Ember was dressing up as her favorite Eeveelution, Glaceon, while Rockwell was dressing up as his, Jolteon. The costumes were very realistic and just the right size for each of them. "Ooh, I know! Let's wear our sunglasses too since it's cool and at night and all, just like that sweet song you showed me before!" Rockwell suggests, putting his on and handing Ember's pair to her. "Good idea Rocky! That's the spirit, ha!" she tells him, beaming with excitement. Buckets in hand (or paw, in Rockwell's case), the two sneak out her bedroom window and out into the night together, gathering much candy over a two-hour span. Once finished, they sneak back as stealthily as they had gone, their mission a sterling success. Hiding their candy well, they remove their costumes, hide them too, and go back to sleep, but for real this time. Through events like these, the two bonded like no other, and despite the lack of parental and ecclesiastical support, their futures seemed relatively bright, since they had their personal faith and each other no matter what. Time could only tell just how strong their friendship as master and pet would be, and it would pay off greatly throughout the years.


	3. Time After Time

**Chapter 3: "Time After Time"**

Two years have come and gone since Ember and Rockwell's first Halloween together. She has since become a teenager, while Rockwell is now a fully grown young adult Manectric. For both personal reasons and because the two could barely fit comfortably in the same bed together, Rockwell gets his own bed across the room from Ember's. "Oh yeah, super soft! Just the way I like it, heh," he comments about his new bunk acquisition, sprawling himself across it. "Glad you like it, boy. I helped pick it out for you, after all!" she reminds him, smiling. He also gets clothes befitting his final adult size, which closely resemble what he used to wear as a pup, except even cooler overall.

Between then and the next year, Rockwell learns much from keeping good on his continued promise to help Ember with her homework, especially during the studious weeks preceding tough tests. By the time of her fourteenth birthday (and Rockwell's third the month before that), Ember checks out a book on Pokémon training from the local library. She keeps the book a secret as usual, since her parents have a problem with the epic sport of Pokémon battling, their considering it a blood sport of cruelty toward animals, savage competition, and whatnot. After practicing the basics together whenever her parents were out of the picture, they move on to more advanced procedures in time. "Excellent Rockwell! Now, thunder wave that tree, then follow it up with a shock wave straight into the target's center!" Ember commands him, to which he follows up with both techniques perfectly executed in rapid succession, impacting the tree only millimeters apart from another. "HA! How was that?" Rockwell states, flicking his tail and sitting beside her to rest a moment. "It was great! If you were any better, you'd be virtually flawless!" she lauds him. Later that week, they meet with her uncle after school and explain the situation with her parents' restriction on Pokémon battling. "Hmm… that's definitely a problem. Are you sure you're both seriously considering pursuing this newfound passion of yours?" he asks them. Both nodding at his query, he pauses to think before continuing, "Well, I'd be willing to keep this a secret between just the three of us and anyone else you two trust with this knowledge. I agree that your parents are far too overbearing. Being highly legalistic and restrictive does NOT equate being a true Christian, no matter what they might say to justify such behavior." "I couldn't agree more. I really hope someday, they learn to just live and let live with us. It's our lives, not theirs to control. Right Rocky?" Ember declares, to which he responds with a rousing "yep." "Now then, you two had better get back to practicing. There's a local tourney coming up if you're interested in joining it. It's a 1v1 Pokémon battling one, so you don't have to worry about it being a six-on-one fight or anything potentially unfair," her uncle explains. "Well Rockwell, wanna join it? I believe in us!" she asks him confidently. "Ember, I'd be delighted to!" he responds, smirking noticeably. Training hard for another hour, they get stoked enough to have her uncle drive them to the local Pokémon stadium. There, they sign up for the aforementioned tourney happening that upcoming weekend. "Great, it's on a Saturday. My parents usually don't let me go anywhere on that day, at least not alone," Ember reveals with a sigh. "Well you won't be alone. You'll be with Rockwell and I. They should allow that," her uncle says. "You'd do that for us? Gee, thanks a lot Uncle Charlie!" she rejoices, hugging Rockwell merrily.

When her uncle drops her off at her home for the day, she and Rockwell review a pamphlet containing all the rules binding the tourney. They discover the rules as being all of the following: no more than one Pokémon per tournament, no legendary Pokémon, no one-hit knockout moves, no stat-boosting items, no more than five items per round, and the most annoying rule of all, no more than four different moves may be used in a single round. Violating any of those rules results in an instant disqualification from the tourney. "Dang, that last rule'll be tough. I'll have to be smart about what I have you use. In a pinch, though, don't be afraid to act on your own. Okay boy?" Ember remarks. "Sure thing Em. I won't let you down!" he assures her, barking softly in concordance. They spend the rest of their spare time that week planning a great strategy out, studying all the various Pokémon types and their strengths/weaknesses, and teaching Rockwell some new moves of types other than electric for maximum coverage. "Remember Rockwell, ice fang is a great move to use against those annoying ground-types. It's also good for grass- and dragon-types. Flying-types are already covered by your natural electric typing, though, so no need to use it against them unless it'd be more advantageous to do so, like against this Jumpluff creature here," she explains, pointing at a picture of one in her Pokémon guidebook from the library. "Got it!" he replies, nodding. They also shop at their local Pokémart for useful items, both for Rockwell to hold in battle and for Ember to use on him during the tourney if needed. Her uncle willingly picks up the somewhat expensive tab for them. "You won't be disappointed Uncle! I'll pay you back with the prize money if we win," she promises. "Hey, this one's on me. You two go out and get 'em tomorrow! I'll be rooting for you both from the sidelines!" he says, wearing a big grin on his face. "Oh my… thank you! Thank you so much!" she thanks him, giving him a hug. "Hey, no problem! You're very welcome Ember," he tells her.

At last, the big day arrives. Both Ember and Rockwell are excited and eager to have a shot at the joint title of tournament champions, and they are sure to show up early enough so they can practice their techniques in a private training room. "Okay Rocky, in five minutes, we're gonna go out there and show 'em what we're made of! Are you ready?" she asks him. "Ready as I'll ever be, Emmy! This is it, so let's do it!" he chimes, wagging his tail firmly. Once Rockwell changes into his battle clothes (a specially made plain T-shirt and pair of shorts provided by the establishment, since no participating Pokémon were allowed to wear conventional clothing during a tourney), they then say a short prayer together before leaving the room. Entering the arena, they listen to the announcer introduce each trainer and their Pokémon by name, Ember and Rockwell being the last on the list to be announced. Apparently, the tourney consists of five rounds, starting with thirty-two entrants and narrowing steadily from there to sixteen, then eight, then four, and finally two before the champions are crowned.

For the first round, Rockwell faces a rival Vaporeon. "Pf, I've got this in the bag already!" he mutters to Ember before walking into the arena's center, so confident he doesn't even bring a held item with him. "3… 2… 1… GO!" "Rockwell, discharge, now!" Ember orders. Instantly, Rockwell gets in position, charges power, and unleashes a powerful discharge attack at the Vaporeon, nailing it before it can even react and paralyzing it on contact. "Wow, this is a wild one from the word _go_ folks!" the announcer shouts over the intercom. The Vaporeon yelps loudly, trying to recover back to its feet and using bubble beam back at Rockwell, which he easily avoids due to the distance between him and his opponent. "Finish them with any move you want!" she tells him before he ends the round easily with a well-placed thunder fang to the back of the Vaporeon's neck, fainting it into submission. "Round one complete! Way to go Ember and Rockwell!" the announcer proclaims, each of them taking a quick bow for their strong performance before waiting for their shot at the next round.

The second round of the tourney proves to be a little trickier than the first, with the opposing Pokémon being an eviolite-holding Grovyle – an electrically resistant grass-type. Taking his place in the arena's center, Rockwell waits for the round to begin, to which Ember immediately orders him to thunder wave the speedy creature. Now paralyzed, the leafy reptile is much easier for him to catch. "All right, flame burst on him, Rockwell!" Ember shouts. Taking a moment to power up, Rockwell unleashes a fiery wave of pain upon the Grovyle, doing serious damage to it. "Good, now finish it off!" she adds, Rockwell doing so easily with a fire fang to the lizard's spine. "Looks like this was a one-sided affair! Great match!" the announcer blares. "Nice job boy! Keep it up!" Ember praises Rockwell as they excitedly anticipate the start of the next round.

In round three, Rockwell faces off against a Slurpuff – a pesky fairy type. Right after the battle begins, the Slurpuff powers itself up with calm mind while Rockwell thunder waves it as per Ember's recommendation. "Remember Rocky, calm mind boosts its special stats, so hit it hard physically if you can! Thunder fang, now!" she yells, Rockwell responding perfectly with a strong electric bite to the Slurpuff's side, causing it to flinch in pain and stumble in its footing. "Good, it's distracted trying to recover! Use another one!" she commands him, this time getting an even stronger thunder fang from him and weakening the Slurpuff greatly. However, the battle's not quite over yet, as it recovers its footing and unleashes a boosted dazzling gleam at Rockwell, which he partly dodges, though not completely. "Ah!" he cries in pain, shaking if off and awaiting Ember's next request. "All right, hit it before it can attack again! Quick attack, NOW!" she shouts. In response, Rockwell delivers a powerful quick attack into the Slurpuff, knocking it back some distance from the ram and fainting it. "Phew, that was close. Here Rocky, have a sitrus berry!" she rewards him, presenting one in the palm of her hand and feeding it to him. "All right, just two more rounds to go now! Keep it up!" reminds Ember, petting him and getting him pumped up for the semifinal match.

"All right folks, this is round four: the semifinal! Nobody wants to lose now having come this far," the announcer states, Rockwell and his latest opponent, a Diggersby, taking the spotlight in the arena. "Great, a ground-type. We know how to handle these though! Right Rocky?" Ember asks him. "Yup: ice ice baby, heh heh!" he retorts with a chuckle. Immediately when the round starts, the Diggersby digs a hole underground while Rockwell is confounded at this initially. "All right, be prepared to jump-dodge this pest when he surfaces. He'll try to ram you, though, so be careful! It's super-effective against you, using the book's terminology," she warns him. Surely enough, the wayward overgrown rabbit plays a literally dirty trick on Rockwell, pretending to surface in front of him and lure him into jump-dodging before charging ahead for real and ramming him head-on. "Ow, that stings!" Rockwell cries painfully, shaking off the hit as best he can and charging back at the Diggersby at full speed, nailing it with an ice fang. "Take THAT!" he barks. The Diggersby is partially frozen by the attack, struggling to maintain its battling stance, but not before Ember orders two more follow-up attacks of similar caliber. Weakened significantly, she attempts to have him finish off the big bunny, but not before its trainer uses a full restore on it. "Dang, that sucks. Ice fang it some more boy!" she tells him, to which he does several more times, evading any counterattacks (except for a random quick attack, which fails to inflict too much damage to Rockwell) and forcing the opposing trainer to use two consecutive hyper potions. Just when it seems they have the battle won, though, something unforeseen happens: the ground starts shaking wildly all around the arena as a powerful earthquake is unleashed at Rockwell by the Diggersby. Leaping at just the right time, Rockwell avoids the worst of the attack, though not all of it, which harms him fairly significantly and prompts Ember to use her own hyper potion on him as a general precaution. "Just one more ice fang boy! Now!" she alerts him. To this, he charges at the Diggersby, barely evades a quick attack by it, and uses its own momentum against it, since it must recover from the forward motion while Rockwell ice fangs it to the back of the head, knocking it unconscious for good and standing victorious over his fallen opponent. "Yeah, woo!" Ember cheers, running over and hugging Rockwell. "Just one more round! This is it! We can do it!" she informs him, boosting his confidence once more and healing up any residual damage with a regular potion. After this, they wait during the intermission to discuss their tactics for the final battle of the tourney.

"This is it! The final round! Who will emerge victorious after all the work they've done up 'til now? Let's watch and find out, everyone!" the announcer opens up the final round with, Rockwell (who is currently carrying a magnet for a hold item, slightly boosting his electric attacks) and his final opponent, a Mightyena, taking their positions in the arena's center. "Rocky, open up with a thunder wave and follow up with your strongest electric attacks. This beast looks dangerous. Keep your distance whenever possible just in case," Ember tells him, taking her seat on the sidelines. "3… 2… 1… GO!" is heard over the intercom as the announcer officially begins the battle. Rockwell charges and unleashes a thunder wave pulse at the Mightyena, which attempts to dodge it, but fails, becoming fully paralyzed on the spot. The Mightyena's trainer heals it with a paralyze heal, though, allowing for it to become mobile again and attempt to bite Rockwell hard in the side. It misses, and Rockwell attempts to unleash a thunder attack on the rival canine. However, he misjudges his opponent's position and just barely misses them, leaving him wide open for a vicious counterattack in the form of the Mightyena's crunch. "YOW!" Rockwell yelps, bleeding. The Mightyena snickers at him, wearing a sardonic grin on its face. "What's wrong little Manectric? Are you hurt?" it sarcastically asks him. "Y… yes, but I'm not done yet! Not even close!" Rockwell retorts, unleashing a strong thunderbolt straight into the Mightyena, hurting it badly and giving Ember the opportunity to heal Rockwell with a super potion. "Gr…," the dark-type snarls, taking the hit, its nerves stinging sharply throughout its body from the shock. Rockwell thunder waves the Mightyena again, and gets mocked once again from the creature: "Such a noobish strategy paralyzing me like that. Fight like a REAL canine you whelp!" At this, Rockwell notices some of his blood still on the Mightyena's muzzle as it licks it off its face, almost as if to be enjoying it sickly. He growls loudly, takes an attacking stance, and goes into an attacking frenzy, unleashing thunderbolt after thunderbolt at the Mightyena, never missing a single one. The Mightyena struggles to remain conscious, barely managing to consume its attached sitrus berry and attempt a futile counterattack, with the far more nimble Rockwell easily avoiding it. "Finish him boy! You can do it!" Ember shouts, standing upright ever since she first healed him with the potion moments earlier. Though the opposing trainer uses a full restore on the Mightyena, Rockwell continues to paralyze and/or thunderbolt it until the legal number of twenty-four allowed thunderbolts in a single round has been reached. The other trainer has exhausted their supply of healing items, leaving the Mightyena vulnerable to a powerful thunder attack, which Rockwell ensures he does not miss this time around. As a bonus, it succeeds in paralyzing the Mightyena even further, to the point where it is virtually immobilized. The Mightyena on the brink of unconsciousness, Rockwell decides to give it a taste of its own medicine by crunching it right back, same as it did to him before. Although not very effective, it is more than enough to finish off the savage canid.

"What an incredible comeback! Let's hear it for our newest tournament champions, Ember McLain and Rockwell Manectric!" the announcer proclaims, the two of them excitedly taking their place at the winner's podium for a brief media interview. "We're here live at the Pokémon stadium in downtown Amity Park with the latest tourney champions, Ember and Rockwell. Tell me, what does it feel like to be the youngest pair of entrants to win a tournament in the history of Amity Park Pokémon battling, and on your very first attempt, too?" the news reporter inquires of them, holding a microphone between their faces. "Uh… well, it actually wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it'd be. Rockwell did a fantastic job following my orders exactly, and improvised on his own well a few times, too. Isn't that right, Rocky boy?" Ember remarks, smiling lovingly at Rockwell, stroking him gently on the head, and patting him a couple times gently on the muzzle. "Yeah, it sure is! I had lots of fun, and gave it my all, even in a pinch! You did a great job commanding me when I needed it too, Emmy. I couldn't thank you enough for being my trainer and best friend for life!" he explains, licking Ember affectionately on the cheek and hugging her, his tail wagging vigorously. "Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Let's hear it once more for Ember and Rockwell!" the reporter responds as the steadily growing crowd behind them cheers wildly at their performance and victory, including Ember's Uncle Charlie. After receiving their prize money of $5,000, a stunning 24 karat gold-coated steel trophy in the shape of a Pokéball (worth over $2,500), and their names forever commemorated in a mahogany plaque on the front wall of the stadium's entrance foyer, Charlie drives them back to Ember's home and discreetly drops them off down the street some distance, allowing them to sneak inside via Ember's window and hide their prizes before eventually meeting her parents properly at the front door.

"We're back home now!" Ember states loudly, ringing the doorbell twice afterwards until her mother answers it, shortly followed by her father. "Back home indeed, it seems," David says, looking at Ember and Rockwell with much suspicion. "Uh, yeah…," Ember states nervously, shirking her parents as she makes her way toward her room, before her father reaches out and grabs her arm with one hand and Rockwell's tail with the other. "Just where do you think you're going?" he questions as he slowly tightens his grip on them the more they try to struggle free. "To bed. It's getting late, you know," she answers honestly. "Very good. I'm glad to hear that. After all, the youngest Pokémon champions of Amity Park would do well to catch up on their rest after such a long grueling day!" he remarks sarcastically. His face then twists into an unforgiving look that says: "You two are in so much trouble, you have no idea!" "Wait, you already know? How?!" she surprisingly asks, eyes widening at the possible implications of their punishment. "You two were on the local news report earlier tonight. Everybody knows about you now. Even most of those at church probably do now," Mary explains, sighing at the thought of further ecclesiastical consequences the next morning. "So? It's our life. What're you gonna try to do about it, hmm? You can't control us. You should know that by now," Ember reminds her parents. During all this exchange between Ember and her parents, Rockwell remains unusually quiet, not wanting to say anything more impulsively that could expand the consequences for them both. "Such impetuous assumptions! We have far more control over your lives than either of you would likely ever admit. Show some respect for the first time in your lives!" David demands. "Sure, whatever. Can you please let us go now?" she comes back with. "Only after you both understand that will I release you," he assures them. Nodding in admittance of that supposed fact, Ember and Rockwell are released and allowed to go back to their bedroom for the night, though they would have double the household chores for the entirety of the upcoming week. "Gee, your parents sure are strict. Even more so than I already knew," Rockwell tells Ember, lying down to rest after partially undressing for the evening. After doing the same, she replies, "Yeah, but at least they don't issue spankings to us anymore. That stopped for me after age ten. Let me tell you: my dad would hit me so hard sometimes, I couldn't even sit comfortably for days afterwards." "You're telling me. When I was a pup, my parents would do the same to me, even my mother at times, though she was weaker than my father, naturally. I got into much mischief back then, too, so you can imagine how often I got hit. Everywhere from across the muzzle to the back, chest, sides, stomach, and especially the butt most of all. I'm not even including the abuse my siblings would sometimes dole out to me unjustly. Never would've thought that of all people, it'd be YOUR father that'd be the last one to spank me in my life. He's the only human that has that distinction to me," he reveals. "Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are. Oh well… let's just pray he doesn't try to hit us anymore. That's the biggest thing I've hated about my parents my whole life, and I'm sure you'd agree. Let's get some sleep now. Tomorrow'll be a long day, starting with church early in the morning. Goodnight Rocky! Love ya always!" she responds, rolling onto her side facing him before closing her eyes and resting. "Love ya always too Emmy!" he whispers before heading to sleep himself, curling up comfortably in his bed.

Throughout the next three years, Ember and Rockwell drastically increase in their overall battling skills, never losing a single tourney at the local Pokémon stadium and racking up an increasingly impressive winning streak. They also earn much valuable money, saving most of it up for something big and special someday in their own personal shared bank account, which her faithful Uncle Charlie managed for them. They stored all their trophies and medals in a small side room at her uncle's place, their glory lining the shelves and walls, proudly proclaiming their many victories to all that observed them firsthand. Their accomplishments became something of a local legend, their names household words to many Amity Parkers (as they were often called). Besides themselves, nobody else could be more proud of them than Uncle Charlie. In fact, for Ember's sweet sixteenth birthday (and a month after Rockwell's fifth), he had a great surprise planned for them both: the gifting of them with their own personal electric guitars. "Ooh, this one's bigger than the rest! I wonder what it is!" Ember exclaims with the large present still unwrapped upon her lap. Opening it, her eyes widen greatly in astonishment after noticing her brand new guitar revealed at last. "Oh Charlie… it's perfect! Thank you so very much!" she shouts, leaping to her feet and hugging him tightly. "My pleasure Ember, heh!" he responds, smiling wider than he has ever smiled at her ever since he witnessed her birth as a child. "Your turn now Rockwell," he adds. "Huh, lemme guess…," Rockwell starts, opening it slowly for dramatic effect and having a similar reaction to Ember upon noticing it is another electric guitar all his own. "Wowie, we can start our own little band now together Ember! Thanks Uncle Charlie, you're the best!" he states, yipping in sheer joy and hugging Charlie for himself. "Again, you're both very welcome! I hope you guys become epic rock stars someday! I have a good feeling you will if you dedicate enough effort toward it as you have your Pokémon battling!" Charlie assures them.

The very prospect of becoming future rock stars absolutely enthralls Ember and Rockwell, so much so that they eventually spend even more time honing their guitar and vocal skills more than their Pokémon battling ones, while still not completely neglecting the latter. "Hey Rocky, remember when I told you how much you rocked that air guitar of yours? Well, back then, I never would've imagined I'd actually be seeing you rocking a REAL one!" Ember explains earnestly, giggling at the sight of his doing so very well at one of their weekly guitar practicing sessions. Naturally, they had to sneak this away from her parents during their visits to her Uncle Charlie's each Saturday. Once, when Charlie suggested the idea of taking formal guitar and singing lessons to them both, they replied together in unison: "Nope!" They were highly confident in their own God-given talents, and sought to practice them until they were exceptionally talented in both categories. They played all of their favorite guitar-based songs at first, including such classics as Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield," Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer," Heart's "Never," and Bryan Adams's "Run to You." They also occasionally covered the vocals, but the main emphasis in playing them was the guitar parts. Over the course of several months, they had developed their skills to a significant level, so much so that they strongly considered becoming street performers for fun on the weekends, just to see how many people agreed with them and Uncle Charlie that they were indeed great at what they did.

Their first public performance came on a clear summer afternoon in mid-1997. They made sure to wear sunglasses and light jackets to further obscure their identities, as well as clothing nobody else close to them except Charlie knew they owned. That way, any familiar passersby would likely never notice them for who they really were; the fact that they were also local Pokémon battling celebrities further compounded that. Performing decent amateur covers of their favorite rock artists, they attracted quite a crowd by the end of their session, earning well over $500 in handouts for their show. The crowd was cheering so wildly for an encore, they decided to perform one final song: Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Aptly titled, this would be the beginning of what was destined to become a star act consisting of Ember and Rockwell at its core, and nothing would stand between them and their eventual ascension to superstardom. Arriving back home later that night, they stayed up a little later than usual (with the light's off, of course) discussing their future plans together, the possibilities seeming virtually endless. "Rocky, how I felt tonight performing in front of a live audience, with everyone cheering for us… for me… was amazing! I feel more confident about myself no more than when I'm in that kind of supportive environment. Part of me is still nervous about screwing up, but the other part of me craves more… more approval and attention from the teeming masses," Ember describes to Rockwell, her face ever aglow at the mere idea of global fame and recognition. "I get what you're saying and all, but remember Ember, don't let it get to your head. It's unhealthy to constantly beg and demand for the attention of others, especially strangers," he wisely warns her, though she seems to be in a dreamlike trance as he does. _"'Remember Ember…' that's a clever rhyme! I'm gonna do something awesome with that someday, I swear…_ , _"_ she thinks before noticing Rockwell's attempting to regain her attention again. "Oh, what? Sorry boy, I was just daydreaming a bit is all. I hear you though. I'll try my best not to let it get to me too much. Tell ya what: if you ever think I'm becoming too gloated and into myself and attention-seeking, feel free to correct me, okay? I should listen. Hopefully…," she proposes. "Fair enough, we're agreed here. All things considered, I'm proud of where we're at now, and even if we never became much more than this in our lives, I'd still be forever grateful for what we did share together. God help us to never forget these better days of yore long ahead of now," he hopes. At Rockwell's request, they say a joint prayer together asking for God's strength to lead them judiciously in the years ahead of them, wherever life leads them, before bidding each other goodnight and falling asleep.

Beginning a few weeks after Ember began her junior year at her private Christian high school, she encountered a boy her own age named Jonathan that seemed to show a passing interest in her. She occasionally reciprocated the special attention with a playful wink or smirk, but was personally prepared to play hard to get. Romantic attraction was no small thing to her, and she took it very seriously, as one should. One day, after school, they decided to meet up together for the first time and hang out at his place, but not until notifying her parents about what was happening. Rockwell, staying behind, congratulates her and offers her a small piece of advice over the phone: "Take your time, don't feel rushed, and just have a good time together, keeping the other person's emotional feelings in mind." She vows to do so to her utmost ability, hangs up, and walks to Jonathan's home with him. There, she introduces herself to his mother (and later his father when he arrives home from work), then has an engaging conversation with him for quite some time on his living room couch. Next, they play a couple board games, Ember winning both of them, and share a healthy light snack of grapes, carrot sticks, and water before parting ways for the day. "So, how'd it go?" Rockwell asks her curiously immediately following her returning back home. "Well, very well, actually! I had lots of fun," she answers with a bright expression lighting up her face – a rare countenance that he usually only saw himself bring out of her. "Really? I'll have you know I'm glad to hear that. I'd like to meet him sometime, if I can," he replies. "Oh, I've already planned on that. Tomorrow after school, I'll have my mom pick you up and drop us off at his place again. It'll be great, I'm sure!" she tells him, smiling widely. Looking forward to that, they spend the rest of the day discussing anything and everything Jonathan that Ember discovered about him thus far.

Surely enough, they stick to their plans the next day, meeting up together with Jonathan at his stately uptown abode. "Welcome guys! Ember's told me a lot about you, Rockwell. Heck, most of the time, you're all she really talks about!" he greets them, chuckling after the part about Rockwell. "Is that so, Jonathan? Why am I not surprised?" Rockwell remarks sarcastically, nudging Ember's side with a sly smirk. "Ha ha, it's true, I admit it!" she confesses, giggling briefly. While there, Ember has Rockwell display some of his electric moves in the safety of his broad open backyard. "Whoa, that's totally cool, dude! You rock!" Jonathan tells him. "Correction: I rock well! Get it, 'cause my name's Rockwell?" Rockwell explains cleverly. "Totally, ha!" Jonathan agrees, laughing out loud along with Ember. "See what I mean? He's so funny sometimes, my Rocky!" she points out as she hugs Rockwell. "Aw, thanks Emmy!" says Rockwell with a warm grin. The three of them proceed to have a fun-filled afternoon together, recounting many childhood and puppyhood memories from years past, telling silly jokes, and playing games of all kinds (yes, including some of the so-called "forbidden" video games), prompting Ember to ask Jonathan, "Why's it that your parents allow you to play video games and listen to some modern music while mine restrict it severely as if it were the work of the Devil himself?" Pondering her query thoroughly, he responds, "I'm not completely sure, but I'd say it's because supposedly, liking ANY of the 'things of this world' somehow makes one more prone to evil, or something like that. It's kinda asinine thinking, in my opinion, but they might know something about it we don't. I've never personally had any issues with mainstream entertainment myself, though." "I see… here's hoping someday, they'll come around and see things my way on this issue. Doubtful as it may seem…," she states and sighs loudly, looking at Rockwell sullenly. That night, Ember openly describes to Rockwell privately her feelings about Jonathan that she has started to manifest, including her hopes, dreams, etc. "So Rocky, what do you think? Do you think he really could be the one?" she inquires slightly nervously. "I'm not fully sure just yet, but I'd say it's a strong possibility! For your sake, I hope whatever happens between you two is for the greater good. Only time will tell," he responds. "I sure hope something good happens. I've… I've never felt anything like this before! Not even with you. It's _that_ special!" she exclaims, both of them saying "goodnight" and praying silently together, him for her and Jonathan to turn out all right regardless of the eventual outcome and her for Jonathan to "please be the one" and such.

However, the first time Jonathan decides to visit Ember's home at his suggestion and her discretion, the event proves to be a disaster, with Jonathan getting involved in a heated argument with her parents, particularly her father, over major differences between them, mostly about video games, music, and even Ember's struggle to maintain individuality apart from her parents. Her father ended the dispute decisively by literally running Jonathan out of the house and slamming the door violently behind him, banning him from the property indefinitely and harshly scolding Ember for inviting such a "brazenly hotheaded young man" into their household and whatnot. "You blame me for his behavior? How… how could you ruin my ONE chance at impressing him here like that? You must both really hate me!" Ember screams, emotionally wracked and retreating back to her bedroom with Rockwell, locking the door behind her and bawling her eyes out for the next half hour straight. "Oh Ember… I'm so sorry this happened…," he attempts to comfort her, lying beside her on her bed and licking away her tears as they come one by one. "Oh Rocky…!" she utters, bursting into tears again before she could even finish her statement and burying her face shamefully under her pillow. Angered at the sight of his broken master before him, Rockwell decides to take matters into his own paws, leaves her room, and confronts her parents about what happened earlier. "How could you guys treat your only daughter like that? She tries her hardest to make you happy sometimes, and it's never good enough for you two! How good is good enough, huh? Tell me!" Rockwell challenges them with an intimidating snarl. "Stand down, boy. Lest I have to put you down myself," David warns him, brandishing an old revolver of his and never forgetting the time he was once shocked into submission by a younger Rockwell several years before. Noticing the threat and receiving the message unquestionably, Rockwell slowly backs away, shaking his head and grumbling, "So that's how it is around here, is it? I understand that clearly now. And to think, I actually considered you both to be better than that." Retreating back to Ember's room, he locks the door behind him and lies near to Ember once more, nuzzling her. "Feeling any better now? I tried to talk to them, but, well… you know how that always seems to go," he reveals sadly. "Hey, at least you tried. Thanks for always being here for me Rocky, even when nobody else would!" she informs him, wiping away a few final tears (for now). "Let's just… just go to sleep. I feel exhausted and drained after all that. I'm sorry," she continues, changing into her sleepwear before going to bed for the evening, Rockwell following her lead shortly thereafter.

Tomorrow does not prove to be any more forgiving for Ember than yesterday was, with her failing to reconcile with Jonathan about what had happened the day prior. "Sorry, I had no idea your parents were THAT extreme. Your dad in particular is an absolute monster, and that's the truth, no matter what kind of person he thinks he is," he tells her, giving her the cold shoulder from then on and ignoring her indefinitely, as if he had never even known her at all (and did not want to know her again, either). Later that same day, Ember has another long bout of crying with Rockwell by her side. This time, even he cries a little, feeling deeply saddened by Ember's emotional state. "So that's it then. He's just gone, like that? He must not have really cared about you like you think he did if he can't even be friendly with you away from home," Rockwell tells her. Ember does not respond verbally, but rather nods slowly and goes through another three Kleenex tissues before finally regaining her composure enough to speak again. "I'm so many things right now, Rocky. Sad, angry, confused, disappointed, hopeless… this must be what people mean when they sing all those breakup songs out there," she says in a steady soft voice, unusual for her being alone with her faithful canine companion. "I suppose it is. Remember to keep your head up high and be strong, though, no matter what it takes. You WILL get through this! We will. Together!" he assures her, smiling slightly and placing his right forepaw on her shoulder. "Th… thanks boy. I couldn't get through this quite the same without you, that's for sure!" she replies. Getting on her feet again, she walks toward her window and stands before it, staring out it with a blank expression. Rockwell trots over beside her, sitting down and sighing. "What now?" he mutters weakly. "Rockwell, have you ever contemplated running away from home before?" she asks after a long silent pause. "Yeah, once when I was little, but I could never actually bring myself to doing it. Why do you ask? Wait… you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" he asks, glaring at her with a look that says: "You cray girl?" She nods slowly at him, getting her sneakers and lacing them up on her feet. "You gonna come with?" she murmurs with a girlish smirk. "Of course, but first…," he says in a low voice, putting on his own shoes and approaching his nightstand. There, he gets a pen and writes a short note for her parents when they inevitably discover their absence the next morning. Upon finishing it, he tapes it to the backside of their bedroom door and confirms he is ready to go. "We'll return eventually, right?" he questions anxiously. "Of course, but hopefully this'll shake 'em up a bit inside. Make 'em suffer for how they've made me feel lately," she informs him. Slipping through the window one after the other, they close it tightly and make their way silently across town to where her Uncle Charlie lives.

All is quiet at the house when they first arrive, which is understandable considering the time of day (it is almost 11:00 PM now). Fast asleep, Charlie hears the doorbell ringing in the middle of the night. "Ugh, who could that be at this hour?" he thinks, getting dressed quickly and answering the front door. "Ember? Rockwell? What're you two doing here now?" he says in a surprised tone. "Running away," she tells him. "Running? From what?" he continues, raising an eyebrow. "From her parents, and for the record, it was her idea. I'm just playing along!" Rockwell interjects, flicking his tail gently against Ember's right leg. "Yeah, right. Anyway, can we stay with you a while? Perhaps a day or two at most. We really don't mean to trouble you like this, but I really need to get away from home right now. My parents are being absolute jerks about something dearly important to my heart," she explains. "Is that so? Why am I not surprised?" Charlie states, shaking his head. "Come inside. Tell me everything that happened," he requests. The two promptly enter the house, walk downstairs, and take a seat on the large couch there together. Once Charlie joins them and takes a seat between the two, he listens carefully as they detail everything that transpired recently, from the stuff about Jonathan to her parents' overt insensitivity toward her feelings, as well as her father's threatening behavior with Rockwell. "This is getting worse than I've imagined it was… I'm no visionary, but I'd say that someday soon, if this isn't dealt with appropriately, it's all gonna come to a head in due time. I guarantee it. Please strongly consider reconciling with them somehow, whatever it takes," Charlie counsels them. "I'll try. That's all we can do in life, you know?" Ember remarks, petting Rockwell across the way. "I'll help her out with this however I can. God help us too," Rockwell vows, looking heavenward for a moment. They discuss their plans a little longer before heading to bed in the auxiliary bedroom back upstairs.

While at Charlie's, they practice their guitar and singing skills more, making much progress on the current song they are covering – Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time." Ember particularly appreciated the lyrics, as she related to them, particularly with Rockwell in mind. When they do finally arrive home, she tries to tell her parents her true feelings about the things most important to her, including her wavering faith, and while her mother seems to show at least passing interest in aiding her daughter (being a fellow female), her father insists on putting unnecessary pressure on her, blaming her for the majority of her failures and sorrow in her life. Naturally, she withdraws from them even more, leaving only Rockwell and God to truly comfort her. In the coming months, her father's refusal to hear her out would ultimately prove to be a terrible mistake on his part, as it would be the primary impetus leading to a series of wild events in the life of Ember and Rockwell alike, the exact ramifications of which being unimaginable. Truly, from this point onward, only time could tell what lie in store for the dynamic musical duo.


	4. I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost…

**Chapter 4: "I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost… But How about BEING One?"**

It is now Ember's final year of high school, and in the spring of 1999, she finds herself only weeks away from her long-awaited graduation. As is standard for all seniors at her private high school, she must attend a mandatory science field trip to ensure full eligibility for graduation. This year, the science faculty made arrangements for their students to attend the annual National American Science Exposition, being hosted for the very first time right there in Amity Park. Everyone, especially the staff, was excited about the upcoming trip, and it was being hyped to be one of, if not the single greatest field trip in the history of all local schools fortunate enough to secure day passes for their student body. Nobody was allowed to bring any friends or relatives outside of their school along with them due to the relative scarcity of passes offered by the NASE, but since Ember was a major local celebrity at the Pokémon stadium, she was able to convince her science teacher to permit her bringing Rockwell to the exposition, since science was overall both her and his favorite academic subject by far (she got the best grades in it, too). To this, he was highly elated, raring to see just how advanced and cool modern technology was becoming. On a bright sunny Friday afternoon, he and Ember board their assigned bus and sit in the front seat, as per their local VIP status.

Following the bus's arrival at the exposition's west entrance, Ember and Rockwell dismount and enter the center hosting the NASE. As far as the eye can see, booths and vendors are set up everywhere, with projects ranging from humanoid cleaning robots, cancer research data, and soda pop formula creation all on display. One particular booth, hosted by none other than Jack and Maddie Fenton, is relatively devoid of observers, despite the seemingly very intriguing invention they are showing off: the Fenton ghost Proto-Portal 5.0. As they unveil the eccentric device on the small stage they have procured, many hecklers and naysayers show up to revile their invention's claims, mostly fellow scientists. "Such pseudoscience! To think there's even such a thing as ghosts, how very preposterous!" one tells them scornfully. "Pathetic! And to think, you two even have the audacity to call yourselves scientists… ha!" another rebukes harshly. "Ugh… Maddie, sometimes I wonder why we even bother sharing our research with others when all they do is mock us for it," Jack emphasizes, a big long sigh emanating from his mouth. "Oh honey, don't listen to them! They're just jealous for all we know. Look, let's just focus on those who do want to hear our research and ignore the rest for now, all right?" Maddie suggests, placing her hand gracefully upon her disheartened husband's shoulder. "You know what baby? You're right. After all, I swear this technology's gonna be huge someday, or my name isn't Jack Fenton! Then again, it would be anyway even if it never was, but you get the point!" he states, forming a wide grin upon his face. They return to attending the booth's honestly interested patrons together, explaining all sorts of interesting facts about "ecto-tech" (short for "ectoplasmic technology"), though there is still much to be discovered about it, since it is a fairly young scientific field, the Fentons themselves being the key trailblazers in the discipline.

Incidentally, two of the few truly fascinated guests of the Fentons' booth are Ember and Rockwell. "So, what's this thingy supposed to do again?" Ember asks after receiving a brief introduction to ecto-tech, inquisitively inspecting the mystical machine up close (with the Fentons' permission, naturally) wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape. "Basically, it's supposed to create a rift in our world leading to a theoretical dimension I call the 'Ghost Zone.' However, up to this point, I haven't been fully successful in achieving a stable connection to the Ghost Zone. Every time, it gives out before being active for even a few short seconds. Don't you worry, though, 'cause one of these days, this bad boy's gonna work like a charm so well, you'd think it never failed!" Jack proudly explains to Ember, Rockwell listening in intently nearby from beside Maddie. Turning to Maddie, Rockwell probes, "If I'm following you two correctly, what you're essentially saying is that there's a hypothetical world on the other side of ours called the 'Ghost Zone,' where only ghosts and similar spirits reside, correct?" While Maddie validates his query and answers any further questions of his in the process, Jack moves over to the booth to take a quick swig from his water bottle when he clumsily trips on the leg of a chair situated before the stand. "Ah, big man falling! Big man falling!" he shouts, desperately grabbing onto whatever he can to maintain his balance. Unfortunately, though he succeeds in preventing a total tumble, the jolt from his impacting the booth's counter causes the remote control for the proto-portal to be dislodged forcibly from his jumpsuit pocket and land facedown, pressing the activation button and causing the proto-portal to begin to glow with a bright green energy: ecto-radiation. "No, it's not fully tested yet! Girl, get away from there now!" he yells at Ember. However, as much as her instinct tells her otherwise, she cannot bring herself to move away (sort of like the classic "deer in headlights" example, if you will), as she is completely awestruck by the sight of what is happening all around her body, her nerves tingling slightly with an alluring otherworldly sensation like no other she has ever felt before. Just as the device is about to unleash its full power in a radioactive ectoplasmic burst with Ember still standing right in the epicenter of the incoming discharge, Rockwell rushes over toward her in a last-ditch attempt to push her out of danger. "EMBER!" he barks loudly, diving headfirst to try to remove her from the hazardous energy spike. Despite his best efforts, the loyal canine just barely falls short of succeeding at his task, causing both he and Ember to absorb an equal portion of ectoplasmic radiation, the initial shock instantly inducing unconsciousness in them both. Onlookers quickly gather at the scene, including Jonathan, who cannot help but feel guilty for not forgiving Ember for what happened between him and her father the year before. _"Dear God, please help her and Rockwell! I'm sorry for ever holding any resentment toward her!"_ he prays silently, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. The Fentons quickly disable the proto-portal and call in an emergency medical team, who arrive moments later and quickly take Ember and Rockwell to the nearest hospital emergency room (treating Ember in the human division of the building and Rockwell in the veterinary division).

"Wh… where am I? Why am I lying down? Am I… in a hospital?!" a bewildered Ember wearily utters as she slowly regains full consciousness and observes her new surroundings from her hospital bed. She attempts to sit up, but her arm is painfully tugged by the IV cord attached to it, causing her to halt doing so. "Good, you're awake. Be careful with that IV. If you wanna get up, I'll have to get permission from the doctor to remove it. They've still got lots more tests to do on you both," a nurse informs her. "Wait, both? Is Rockwell here?" Ember asks, her demeanor becoming much more worrisome than before. "Yes, he's here. All the way on the other side of the hospital, I'm afraid, since that's where all the veterinary work is done. He seems to be in fairly stable condition too, like you, at least at first glance," the nurse responds, adjusting a few things around the room and checking a few instrument readings scanning Ember's vital signs before leaving. Soon enough, she returns and informs Ember she can remove the IV for now if she truly feels well enough to walk about on her own, but also explains that she will likely need to reinsert it later when they run further tests prior to her eventual discharge. After carefully removing the IV, she leaves the room once more. Alone at last, Ember gradually sits up and stretches, feeling mostly normal, but with a faint tingling sensation spread out all over her body, still remaining from the ectoplasmic energy burst earlier that day. The sensations run from her head, down her neck and spine, into her torso and abdomen, and from there to her extremities, even to the very tips of her fingers and toes. The feeling itself could be generally described as being akin to having weak static running across every external area of one's body, strong enough to not tickle but weak enough to not incite pain. Once she feels confident enough, she slowly slides off the side of the bed, cringing sharply as her bare feet hit the cold tile floor beneath her. Not even bothering to get fully dressed as to not waste any more time, she has only one thing on her mind: Rockwell's condition. She knows he would do the same for her if he could, but the fact that he had not already done so likely implies he was still unconscious, or at least not in a favorable position to venture freely from his hospital bed. Leaving her room in little more than her hospital gown, she navigates the rest of the medical complex alone, following the signs to the veterinary division. At the front desk there, she requests to see Rockwell as his owner, to which she is directed to his room just down the hallway.

In Rockwell's room, a couple nurses are still milling about, while a doctor checks some data charts run on him over the past few hours since he first arrived. "It's simply fascinating is what it is! We're getting radiation signals off the charts from both his and Ember's bodies, but we can't pinpoint exactly what kind of radiation it is. More tests will almost certainly need to be run on them both soon," the doctor notes. "Is he all right Doc?" Ember queries nervously. She places her hand on Rockwell's face, stroking him gently as the doctor answers her with a nod, advising her not to startle him too much when he awakens shortly. The doctor and nurses gradually leave the room, giving Ember the privacy she desired with her precious full-grown puppy. Noticing his eyes just beginning to open, she cannot help but smile, forever grateful and relieved at Rockwell's steady recovery. "Ember? Is that… you? What's happening, and why am I lying here like this? Where AM I, for that matter?" he questions her, his mind still attempting to make better sense of all this. "You're in a hospital, same as me. We're being treated for some reason even I have yet to find out," she tells him. "Really?! How strange.. I can't even recall what last happened to us before we got here, and on top of that, my body feels somewhat sore. I can't bear to even lift my head up half the time. Don't you feel drained, too?" he exclaims assumingly. "Rocky, I just walked over halfway across an entire hospital complex barefoot and in almost nothing but a hospital gown just to see you. I'm pretty sure I'm okay!" she assures him, giggling slightly and petting his head. "Such a silly doggy you are sometimes. Who's a silly doggy? Who's a silly doggy?" she begins. "I am, heh!" he finishes, chuckling heartily. She takes a seat beside him on the bed, taking time to try to recount as much information as they could from whatever they were last doing before ending up at the hospital. "Let's see… we were at the science exposition, we were looking at that weird ghost portal thingy, and then… that's it! I remember now! Something happened when that strange machine turned on somehow and zapped us with some eerie green stuff!" she correctly recalls. "Hey, I remember that too! I was trying to protect you from it somehow, too. That much I know for sure," he adds, stunned at the outcome, but ever thankful for even surviving such a dangerous encounter. "At any rate, looks like we're stuck here until they're done running these so-called tests on us. I just hope they're not too invasive," she points out. At that moment, the doctor reenters the room, ushering Ember out of the room so they can do more extensive testing on Rockwell. After waving goodbye to him for now, a nurse leads Ember back to her room so they can do similar follow-up tests on her as well.

Having stayed overnight at the hospital while they were running their tests upon her and Rockwell, Ember is allowed to leave the following morning, though Rockwell is not released until later that afternoon. As soon as she has the clearance to leave, she gets fully dressed and heads back to Rockwell's room to check up on him. The doctors there even allow for her to watch some of the later tests run on him, including one that requires him to be sedated so as to not be in a heightened state of brain activity during the test's duration. Once the final tests have been completed upon him, Rockwell is officially discharged from the hospital, gets dressed, and leaves with Ember, her Uncle Charlie waiting to pick them up and take them back home. At home, Ember's mother shows much concern and thankfulness that she is all right, even showing some rare sympathy for Rockwell, but her father has nothing but sharp criticism for them both, as is sadly typical for him. "How foolish could you be to examine such a dangerous object so closely? You knew the risk, and you nearly paid the ultimate price for taking it, too!" he derides her, citing Rockwell's supposed ignorance for being "too slow to rescue her" and such. "Gosh dad, can you ever say anything positive about us for once? You didn't even come visit us in the hospital, and apparently, wouldn't even allow my mother to, either. What's wrong with you?!" Ember disputes. "That's not the point! You should be smarter than that, but you weren't, so why should you receive my support for your act of idiocy? You'd think yourself to be blonde the way you are sometimes, I swear!" David issues. To this, Ember gasps disgracefully and stomps out of the room, tears welling up in her eyes uncontrollably. "Really? After all this, you went there? Pathetic man, seriously…," Rockwell mutters under his breath, shaking his head disapprovingly and following Ember to comfort her in her time of need. "How can he BE this way, and after everything that just happened yesterday?!" she wonders, sobbing a bit more while Rockwell nuzzles her affectionately in a means to calm her. "Maybe he's got some deep personal problem hidden away in his past or something. I don't know for sure, but honestly, the way he treats you like this, I could care less to ever know," Rockwell explains. "Huh, I've never thought of it like that. That he could have something painful to hide from his younger years. That could explain why he's never introduced us to his father before," she responds once she has regained enough composure to do so comfortably. "I wasn't aware of that 'til now. You mean to tell me you've never even ONCE met his father before?" he asks. "Yup. Never met the man in all my life. I wouldn't even know if he's even still alive or not, since my dad would probably never tell me that anyway. He likely is, though," she informs him. With Rockwell pondering more about the mysterious relationship between her father and grandfather, Ember sits up in her bed, staring at Rockwell while perusing through a few random things in her own mind.

Suddenly, Ember notices Rockwell's fur and clothing color seem to fade slightly, then flicker briefly between being partially translucent and partially solid before returning back to normal again. "Whoa, what the heck?! Rocky, are you all right?" she remarks as she exits her bed and approaches him. "What? Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" he says, taken aback by her rapid change of mood. "Your body… it just changed from being transparent and solid multiple times!" she tells him, the strange effect occurring twice more shortly after that. "There it goes again! This is really weird… come stand in front of my vanity mirror and look at yourself there. Maybe it'll happen in front of you next time," she remarks as she takes him by the paw and sits him before the mirror. They wait a full minute before surely enough, the same effects take place, with Rockwell turning completely invisible at one point instead of only partly translucent. "Holy Magikarp! Wh… what's happening to me?!" he barks, a trembling chill running down his spine. Before either of them can react any further to that, his eyes glow a bright neon green, and his forepaws emanate that same ghastly green radiation they first saw from the Fentons' prototype invention. "Rockwell, don't move!" she orders, but just then, she herself begins to experiencing the flickering and glowing eyes all the same, her hands also beginning to emit the green radiation. "R… Rocky, I… I think that whatever went down the other day is responsible for all this! I mean, it just HAS to be! There's no way this is a mere coincidence!" she admits, her body becoming overwhelmed with the same weak tingling sensation she originally felt at the hospital the other day. "Wait, I have an idea," he responds, mentally visualizing himself reverting back to his usual self without all the freaky glowing going on. To his amazement, after doing so a very specific way (one beyond that of basic thought), it works and he successfully becomes his "normal" self again, the glowing having fully subsided for now. "Ember, try thinking of becoming your usual self again. Think hard too, not just regularly. There's something special about all this that may allow us to control it to some extent," he suggests. "Okay, I'll try… hey, it actually worked!" she states, reverting to her normal form all the same. Experimenting a while longer, they discover that their newfound "powers," as they call them, can be manually manipulated at will. They can transform in and out of this new form whenever they wish, in addition to be able to become completely invisible and/or intangible; they can even launch energy blasts of various strengths from their hands/forepaws and even the tips of their fingers (and, in Rockwell's case, even the tip of his tail, which he found out while being silly about himself during their lengthy experimentation), at the expense of a few new holes in the floor, walls, and ceiling. "Ember, I don't know exactly why we got these powers, but I see them as a potential blessing of sorts if we learn how to further use them for good. Like a sign from God, if you will," he says, smiling and wagging his tail ecstatically. "Ember, are you listening to me? Ember?" he continues. She does not seem to be listening, though, for she has other ideas about the future of her novel abilities, a dark smirk implanted on her face. The rest of the day, she continues to be relatively quiet about the subject of their powers with Rockwell – abnormal for her to do so to him like that. He lets the issue rest for now, but feels whatever intentions she has in mind with her powers be checked by him soon.

The next morning, a dismal day looms in the northern state of Wisconsin, with heavy storm clouds rolling overhead. In a very posh study on the western end of a huge mansion, a tall slender man sips his morning tea while reviewing yesterday's news in a copy of _The Amity Park Gazette_ , being particularly enthralled by a long front page article entitled "Girl and Pet Zapped Unconscious at National Science Expo." Reading the article carefully, he stops and chuckles sardonically to himself after discovering the cause of the accident was none other than an invention of Jack Fenton's. "Oh Jack Fenton, what a fat old fool you are! How many innocent victims must your ignorance claim before you finally admit your own stupidity? How very pathetic of you!" he exclaims dramatically, a bolt of lightning eerily flashing through the large window behind him. "As for the girl and her pooch, perhaps I should send them a little gift just to spite you, Jack! Would you like that? I'm sure Maddie wouldn't, but then again, you probably never really cared about her happiness much now, did you? After all, this isn't the first time one of your many screw-ups has victimized people...," he continues, clenching his free hand into a fist that glows briefly with a fiery crimson blaze. "In fact, I think I will! Heh heh ha ha ha ha!" he finishes, laughing maniacally to himself as he prepares for a special package to be delivered to the young girl's residence posthaste.

The next morning, Ember's family has just returned from church when a small package is delivered to their front doorstep. "I've got an important first-class here for a Miss Emily McLain," the deliveryman tells her father. "Oh really? This is unexpected. I'm pretty sure she didn't order anything recently…," David says, calling Ember to come over to him. "Sign here please," the deliveryman requests, to which she does so and takes the package to her bedroom to open. "Huh, a small note's attached to the back," she comments. She removes the scrap from within the envelope and reads it aloud, Rockwell hovering right over her shoulder: "Dear Emily: Make sure nobody besides yourself and your dog is present when reading this note. I recently heard about your little 'accident' with that screwball Jack Fenton's latest invention. Believe it or not, you're not the first victim from his idiocy, but that's beside the point. Consider this little gift of mine due compensation for your unfortunate incident, and may you always be cunning and efficient however you two decide to use your powers, whether for good or for evil! – V.M." "Huh. Who do you suppose would've sent us this, and how would they ever know about our powers? Is it possible that whoever this 'V.M.' is knows something about them we don't?" Rockwell suggests. "That's a real possibility boy. Good quick thinking. However, we don't know even the slightest thing about this person. We'd best keep that in the back of our minds for now," Ember recommends. She puts the note back into the envelope, placing it aside on her nightstand. Then, she takes a seat on her bed and uses her nail file to cut away the tape sealing the box. Inside, she uncovers what appears to be a small instruction manual of some sort from beneath the pile of Styrofoam peanuts. As she soon discovers, this is no ordinary instruction manual, for it contains guidelines on a plethora of ghost abilities, offensive and defensive alike. "No way, did this thing just say 'GHOST powers?' We've got _ghost_ powers?!" she says out loud in a tone of much surprise. "Wow! Uh… I don't know how to react to all this. So now, we're technically part ghost?! This is just so freaky, I don't know whether to be elated or shocked! Really, a little of both," he exclaims, adding, "Quick, let's get to learning these new moves! I'm stoked!" She agrees, making sure the door is locked and the window is closed before proceeding following the instruction manual exactly.

Firstly, they review how to switch in and out of "ghost mode," another name for their ghost forms. It is simple enough, and though they can use some of the basic ghost abilities in their non-ghost forms, the more advanced techniques can only be used in ghost mode. Additionally, their basic abilities were bolstered when used in ghost mode. For them, the only visual difference between their ghost forms and their standard ones were the color of their eyes' irises changing to a glowing shade of bright neon green (which the manual's author describes as "scary eyes") and a faint whitish glow surrounding their bodies. Secondly, they hone their skills with becoming invisible and intangible, keeping in mind the distinct differences between the two (invisibility merely rendered one unseen, whereas intangibility made one partially, though not completely, invisible and also incapable of being touched or affected by any physical object, although other ghosts could potentially still see and touch them with their abilities in either state). They could also turn anyone or anything they were touching invisible or intangible too, though the bigger and more massive the object, the more ghost energy it took to do so (making things that were too huge impossible to manage alone). Thirdly, they now each had a "ghost sense," which was a passive ability that automatically warned them of the presence of any nearby ghosts within a certain radius. Fourthly, they now possessed the ability to fly and hover through the air in ghost mode. Both Ember and Rockwell jointly agreed that this was a very nifty cool power, mainly sense it belied the necessity of mainstream transportation such as vehicles and walking. Speeds of well over one hundred miles per hour could theoretically be achieved if their flying power was used swiftly enough. Fifthly, they could charge and release bolts of ectoplasmic energy of varying levels of intensity, which they consciously determined immediately preceding use. Weaker bolts did very little damage to a target, but stronger ones could blast holes through softer ones and melt harder ones, even having an explosive or incendiary effect at the highest levels. Sixthly, they now possessed the ability of replication, which was temporarily creating multiple doppelgangers of oneself and commanding each of them separately, though this took much mental discipline to control perfectly. It was insidiously effective if one could manage to pull it off effectively. Seventhly, they could create temporary ecto-shields and force fields, the former being shorter lived, but with the ability to deflect certain types of projectile attacks (including other ectoplasmic ones), and the latter being longer lasting, but without the deflection bonus. Lastly, they could "overshadow" any non-ghost life form (including those that were only half ghost if they were not in their ghost form) and control their victim freely for an indefinite period of time. It was basically a non-demonic form of temporary possession, though eventually, those with stronger spirits could resist and even forcibly eject the ghost possessing them under more favorable conditions for the victim. The likelihood of this occurring was virtually nil if the victim is unaware they are being controlled against their will. For each move, Ember and Rockwell spent plenty of time studying and practicing it thoroughly until they were satisfied with their initial progress.

In conclusion, the manual stated that there were "likely many more undiscovered ghost powers that could be identified, classified, and mastered, so one should always be on the lookout for new ones wherever and whenever they find them." "Well THAT was certainly an interesting exercise, wouldn't you say Rocky?" Ember remarks as she places the manual and note back into the box and hides it away in a hidden location. " "Absolutely so! Nobody must ever know we have these powers, at least as long as we can afford to keep them a secret," he reciprocates. She nods, patting him on the back. "Well, not much more to do for now. We'll practice some more another time. For now, let's get some sleep. I'm bushed after all that unexpected training," she states with a long yawn, Rockwell following suit only seconds later. They then put on their summer nightclothes and get ready for bed, falling asleep quicker than usual that night, the hope of whatever lies ahead for them with their newfound ghost powers and their many other talents giving them lucid dreams unparalleled by any other they ever had before.


	5. Breakaway

**Chapter 5: "Breakaway"**

The week following Ember's nineteenth birthday, she and Rockwell are eating dinner along with her parents and the newest member of the McLain family: a very annoying Furfrou puppy named Marshmallow (due to his naturally fluffy white fur). David got him as a gift for his wife on the occasion of her fortieth birthday a few months prior, to which she was well pleased. While he was highly affectionate and respectful to both Mary and David, he was a living terror for Ember and especially Rockwell, with whom he competed heavily for attention from her parents (though they virtually always chose him over Rockwell due to strong personal bias). As they were having their meal, Rockwell takes a second helping of chicken for himself without asking first, drawing the glare-filled ire of Mary and David from across the table. He shrugs it off and shares a little with Ember, while Marshmallow seizes the moment (as he so often does) and asks politely for seconds, to which Mary gladly gives him some more chicken, thanking him for his "excellent table manners" and petting him on the head. He jeers at Rockwell under his breath, but the far more mature Rockwell easily shrugs it off and continues eating undisturbed. "One can have peace of mind knowing that at least one canine around here has consistently developed etiquette," David remarks, staring daggers at Rockwell for a moment before taking another bite of his own food.

Sufficiently offended, Rockwell cannot hold his feelings in any longer, puts his silverware down, and snaps, "You're trying hard just to get a reaction out of me, aren't you guys? Why do you continue to treat me and Ember like second-class members of this family?" "Perhaps if you two actually acted like proper members of this family, that wouldn't be so," David grumbles, stabbing his remaining chunk of chicken breast abruptly with his fork in anger. "Hey, Rockwell's got a legitimate point here. You do treat us as clearly inferior family members and you both know it!" Ember interjects with, her face quite visibly irritated with them. "Unless you want both of you to lose your dinner privileges tomorrow, I'd strongly recommend shutting your mouth this instant young lady!" David warns her. "Please dear, obey him without question," Mary advises, looking straight into her daughter's eyes concernedly. "'Dear?' Now you choose to address me affectionately? As if! Besides, I'm not like you! I'm not just gonna obey anyone 'without question' unless it's for the right reasons!" Ember resists. "You want a good enough reason to obey me? Here's one: I'm your father! I should receive unconditional respect and obedience from you for that reason alone!" David responds, his voice sharply raised from before. Although Ember feels especially perturbed by this, she simply sighs deeply and shakes her head slowly, putting a hand on Rockwell's shoulder, calmly speaking, "That's the poorest excuse for obedience ever. Look, let's make something very clear that should be obvious to us all by now: I'll never be who and what you want me to be and neither will Rockwell, most likely. Honestly, I bet both of us would be far better off without any of you, and that goes double for that stupid little mutt butt there!" A moment of awkward silence occurs before David finally breaks it. "That settles it then: I'm sorry to say this, but Emily Ann McLain, you are no longer welcome in this house! Don't bother getting your things, either, since ultimately, we bought most of them anyway, and you claim you don't need us in any way whatsoever. You're a legal adult, so go! Prove to us and all the world how oh so 'great' and 'special' you truly are without your parents' close supervision!" he challenges her, taking a steak knife to Rockwell's throat. "And be sure to take your stupid dog with you, too! Lord knows you've brainwashed him to hate us all the same," he adds as Rockwell quickly backs away from his knife and stands loyally by Ember's side. "For the record, she actually lets me make my own decisions, thank you very much!" Rockwell reminds David, smirking. "OUT, NOW!" David suddenly explodes, charging at them with his knife still in hand and vehemently forcing them out of the house, slamming the door behind them and nearly crushing Rockwell's tail with it.

"Uh… did that just happen?!" Rockwell says. He sits down and looks up at Ember, her replying, "I'm afraid it did, boy. Looks like it's just us from now on." "What about your Uncle Charlie? Won't he offer to take care of us until we find a place of our own to live? We've got plenty of money saved up to buy a house by now, easily," he proposes. "Good idea. See, this is just another reason I love you so much, Rocky – your neverending stream of good ideas!" she praises him, giggling slightly. "Heh, you know I'm chock full of 'em!" he chimes back. Before heading to her uncle's, they take time to gather all their stuff from her bedroom via sneakily using their ghost powers to do so undetected. Once they are sure to have gotten it all, Ember decides to overshadow her parents individually just to see what it is like, as well as try to use one to convince the other to allow her back. With Rockwell secretly watching from a distance, she first overshadows her mother. "Honey, don't you think we've been too harsh on Emb… I mean Emily lately?" she has Mary tell her father, trying hard not to noticeably cringe at saying her real name. "Are you serious? Of course not! She's a rebel and both she and her precious pooch clearly don't deserve us and everything good we provide them," David responds. Dissatisfied with this highly predictable reaction from her father, she then leaves her mother's body and overshadows him. "I feel woozy… what just happened?!" Mary states, holding her hand against her forehead for a moment. "Shake it off, it'll be fine. I've been thinking, though: in retrospect, is it possible that perhaps I've been too hard on Emily lately? She's our only child, after all," she makes David admit. "Huh? Oh, maybe, but dear, that's rather unlike you to say. Honestly, if it were my choice, I'd stand by your decision, even if it's not the best one. God's ultimately in control of all things, not us, remember?" Mary reminds him. Equally dissatisfied by her mother's similarly predictable response, Ember leaves her father's body and goes back outside the house with Rockwell. "I don't believe it… they're really serious about doing this. Oh well, who needs 'em, right? I feel free already, ha ha!" she exclaims, chuckling. Rockwell nods merrily and prepares their belongings for travel. They decide to walk to her uncle's house on foot instead of flying there invisibly as their ghostly selves to alleviate the possibility of accidentally dropping anything valuable along the way.

Roughly halfway to their destination, the strain of carrying a heavy load on her back for over half an hour combined with it already being late in the day takes a toll on Ember, making her one tired girl. "Rockwell, hold up!" she alerts him, starting to fall behind him by a few strides. "What's the matter? Tired out?" he inquires, stopping his pace so she can catch up. "Totally, yes. I really hate to say this, but I think I need to sleep now before we can continue. Out here… on the street… at night…," she utters worrisomely, shivering slightly from the growing chill in the autumn air. "Hey, at least you don't have to worry about school anymore since your graduation last spring, right?" he attempts to comfort her with, putting his backpack down beside hers and lying next to her. "R… right," she agrees, sniffling from the cold breeze blowing around her. "Ember, you okay?" he asks, cocking his head to the side. "I'll let you decide that for yourself," she replies, facing him with tears in her eyes. "Oh Rocky, did I make a stupid mistake?" she continues, a torrent of teardrops flowing down her face. "Emmy… no, I don't believe you did, but even if you ever did, I'll be here right by your side the entire way!" he assures her, licking her tears away and smiling with a few tears coming from his own eyes. Once she gathers herself enough, she thanks him for being such a faithful companion and best friend, hugging him tightly for a full minute. They then decide to take shelter together beneath a small nearby bridge, Ember curling up tightly on the ground to protect herself from the bitter cold and Rockwell curling up around her and covering them both in a small blanket for extra warmth. Keeping an eye out for any shady characters that might dare try to harm such a vulnerable young girl, he stays awake longer than she does, and once he is fully sure she is fast asleep and there is no danger present, he closes his eyes, says a silent prayer for them both, and drifts away.

The sun rises low on the horizon as a new day dawns, some light mist moving in from the northwest. Rockwell awakens first, yawning a big yawn and nuzzling Ember gently on the cheek until she awakens. "Ugh… morning Rocky," Ember mumbles, her voice low and groggy. "Morning Emmy. We need to get moving as soon as possible. We'll be getting hungry here before you know it," he advises, getting to his feet and slinging his backpack around his shoulders, her following his lead soon thereafter. The remaining distance between their current location and Uncle Charlie's house was fairly arduous considering it was being undertaken first thing in the morning. They made good time though, arriving at their destination within the hour. Once there, they head inside and explain everything that happened with her parents to Charlie. "I can't believe that they just threw you both out like that without even a second thought. I'm really sorry to hear this. My brother's an even lower person than I already knew him to be. Perhaps that's why I never looked up to him growing up," he tells them. "Needless to say, you can stay with me until you're able to find a place of your own. May I recommend living fairly close to me if possible? I'd love to remain involved in your lives as I can be at this point," he adds. They graciously accept his offer and begin to discuss plans for housing over breakfast. He also highly recommends they each get a paying job to have a stable income and establish credit, among other things like teaching them more responsibility and self-discipline. Skimming through the want ads in the local newspaper, the best one they can find is one for a downtown diner called Backstreet Blue Jay's looking for new full-time servers as well as a maintenance worker. "Hmm… this could work out," Ember says, Rockwell agreeing wholeheartedly with her.

Surely enough, they apply for the job, get an interview later that week, and are hired, with Ember taking the role of a waitress and Rockwell taking the role of the maintenance worker. Her job's tasks are rather self-explanatory, but his job's tasks are a little more subtle than that: he must ensure the overall upkeep of the restaurant building through doing things like replacing light bulbs, fixing or replacing furniture and dishware, and keeping the place looking clean. With Charlie's assistance, they also manage to procure themselves a nice $100,000 house only a few blocks over from the young uncle's residence. Over the coming months, they prove themselves to be rather reliable workers at their workplace, getting the occasional raise for their stellar contributions. Their jobs could certainly be stressful at times, particularly when the place was really busy, but the payoff was rewarding, since Ember tended to get excellent tips and Rockwell was a favorite in the eyes of the management staff. There were the occasional negative perks too, such as when certain fellow staff members (even some of the human ones) would be intensely jealous of the favoritism Rockwell enjoyed and deride him behind his back, much to Ember's dismay, or when the occasional tipsy customer tried flirting aggressively with Ember, whistling at her and making suggestive remarks about her. This infuriated her deeply and often prompted Rockwell to get involved and sometimes have them kicked out of the diner outright. They appreciated their jobs in spite of all that, and continued to perform well in the service of their bosses. Ember even earned herself a regular weekly patron in the form of a certain blue-eyed brown-haired young man a little older than she was. They had many small side conversations throughout her time there, and at one point, both of them wondered if they might soon become more than just friendly acquaintances, and although it was never meant to be, they were both fine with that and enjoyed each other's presence.

One afternoon, there was one specific occurrence that Ember would never forget, since it reminded her of her own family. There was a young kindergarten-age girl eating lunch with her parents that she was serving. The girl physically resembled Ember when she was the same age, and she went out of her way to give her special service. At one point, her parents tried to force her to eat her vegetables, to which she refused and said she wanted fruit instead. Overhearing this little debate, Ember decides to intervene on the girl's behalf, offering to give her a side of fruit to go with her meal at no extra charge. "Absolutely not! She's had enough sugar already today from her soda," her father gripes as her mother reinforces his point without a second thought. "Look, it really wouldn't be a burden for me to do that. Please, the girl really wants some fruit! Don't you love your daughter enough to make even this one exception?" Ember pleads. "Why, how dare you question my love for my daughter! Who do you think you are to suggest I violate my own principles in raising her?" her father retorts, an angry gaze in his eyes. Shaking her head, Ember rolls her eyes and says "whatever" before returning to them with their bill. They leave promptly afterwards, leaving no tip after the altercation with Ember, but the little girl smiles and offers Ember a penny she recovers from the ground near her table. Taking the penny, Ember smiles and gets the girl a small cup full of ripe red strawberries (under the guise of being a regular drink) to go. "Thank you!" the girl exclaims cutely before skipping back to join her parents as they exit the restaurant. "There she goes. How ignorant can some people be to their own child's needs? It just amazes me sometimes, you know Rockwell?" Ember explains to him as the girl is leaving. "Yeah, perhaps, but there's always hope for people like them. Never forget that either," he reminds her before returning back to work along with her.

In due time, both Ember and Rockwell gain a notable reputation for being hard workers, clever and witty in their respective personalities as well as a true joy to be around, for both customers and fellow employees alike. One night, Ember discusses how much progress they have made together apart from her parents' repressive aegis. "We've come quite a ways, I must say. I'm looking forward to a gradually brightening future right by your side boy!" she states, grinning at him and rubbing his belly as they relax on his bed beside one another. "Oh yeah, that's the spot!" he says, eyes half shut in comfort and tail slowly wagging. "You know, I'd say that even though we lost a few convenient things, we've gained so much more in their place. Mostly," he continues, smiling at his pretty young master with fervent appreciation of her playful affections. Though separated from regular church attendance ever since leaving her parents' household, Ember's faith has actually grown slightly from what it once was, as she was very grateful for how well off she and Rockwell now were. He had not grown much either, but was likewise just as thankful. He ensured the two never completely fell out of faithful habit, being the primary one to lead their prayers and also occasionally having some Bible study time together with her on the weekends (when they were not busy working, Pokémon battling, street performing, or otherwise honing their ghost powers). One particular verse they came across in their studies once was this: "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." – Ephesians 6:4. Ember in particular was fascinated by such a passage, memorizing it quickly and never forgetting it for future reference should she ever encounter her parents. While that possibility seemed far from reality, another was rapidly approaching them in the days ahead that they never would have expected, leading them back to further coming to terms with the fact that they were indeed half-ghost organisms…!


	6. The Danger Zone

**Chapter 6: "The Danger Zone"**

One fine Saturday afternoon in the first summer of the new millennium, Ember and Rockwell are seen performing their usual weekly street concert for the people of Amity Park. They perform mostly '80s hits as always, but also throw in some more recent '90s ones for good measure, ending their performance with a rousing encore rendition of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away." "All right, goodbye everyone! See you all around this time next week like always all you wonderful people!" Ember shouts over the voice of the clamoring crowd, waving at their happy fans together with Rockwell. Bidding their audience adieu for the day, they pack up their guitars and equipment and carry them on their back while making their way along the sidewalks of downtown Amity Park toward their northerly suburban home. The streets narrow slightly the closer they get to the boundary between the city's northernmost districts and the residential area outside of town. They keep a close eye on the back alleys they pass along the way, since although this was usually a much more safe stable side of Amity Park, one would be wise to watch out for any would-be hustlers and muggers. The situation seeming normal for now, they proceed unhindered for a while, reminiscing about their past street performances and sharing some laughs.

Watching overhead from afar, a ghostly stalker lurks in the shadows, zooming in on Ember briefly with an enhanced pair of spectral binoculars before focusing on his primary target: Rockwell. "Come my prey. With every step, you draw closer into a perfect ambush opportunity!" the ghost mutters to himself, a smug smirk forming upon his face. When Rockwell has entered maximum effective range of his weapons, he activates a miniature missile pod on his gauntlet, locks onto Rockwell's ectoplasmic signature, and fires several small homing missiles at him from above. Fortunately, upon recognizing what must unmistakably be her ghost sense, Ember stops, notices the missiles incoming in her peripheral vision, immediately grabs Rockwell's paw, and goes intangible with him, just barely causing the missiles to harmlessly pass right through them and impact the ground below, making several little craters in the sidewalk. "Okay, what… the heck… was that?!" Rockwell remarks, his pulse racing. "I don't know, but we'd best get moving before… LOOK OUT!" Ember cautions, going intangible with Rockwell again as they dodge another missile barrage, put their guitars and equipment aside in a niche, and enter ghost mode before becoming tangible once more and hovering in the air just above the ground. "Hey you, show yourself!" she yells, looking up at the edge of the apartment roof above them. "Very well. For you, my dear, I shall!" the hostile ghost shouts back, flying down before them and revealing himself in plain sight. "Dear? Who do you think you are punk?" she questions him, a look of great distrust in her eyes. "Why, I am none other than Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" the ghost answers her. "Hunter? More like an attention-seeking wannabe!" Rockwell snarls angrily. "Shut your muzzle whelp! You're worthy quarry. My hunter instinct confirms this!" Skulker retorts, aiming a laser pointer between the Manectric's eyes and charging some unknown ecto-weapon. "Stop!" Ember interjects, moving between Rockwell and Skulker's weapon. To this, Skulker deactivates the weapon and sighs. "You're making this more difficult than it needs to be! Step aside girl and let me smite that ghost dog of yours! My mantle's in dire need of a new specimen, I'll have you know," he orders Ember as respectfully as he can, considering he is secretly enamored with her beauty. "I'm not letting you kill my best friend! Sorry pal, but if you don't get the heck outta here, you're gonna get a double dose of trouble!" she warns him, her hands and Rockwell's forepaws glowing green with ectoplasmic energy.

Realizing that he very well might not have much chance fighting them both, Skulker gets clever and grins, nodding before disappearing and flying back to whence he came, but dropping a small sticky explosive that sticks to Rockwell's tail and detonates shortly afterwards. Rockwell yelps in pain at the damage the explosion does, drawing some blood intermingled with a thin layer of greenish ectoplasmic fluid, which was additionally secreted by him since he was in ghost mode at the time of the injury. While he tends to his wounds, Ember unleashes a flurry of ecto-blasts into the sky above her, hoping at least one hits Skulker (assuming he was not intangible). She gets lucky with her final shot, nailing his left jetpack thruster and causing him to spiral out of control into an alley wall nearby. "Rocky, you all right?" she asks as she rushes to his side. "Uh, yeah, I… I think so. It seems to be healing already. I guess being in ghost mode heals wounds much faster than usual. Very cool!" he points out and smiles. "Quick, let's chase after him!" he adds, flying ahead of her into the alleyway where Skulker crashed while she follows right behind him. However, Skulker seems to be nowhere in sight, and all that is presumably left of their encounter with him is a strange ghostly rift radiating with bright green light. "Do you think that's where he went?" Ember inquires. "Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, where else could he have vanished to so quickly?" Rockwell states, reaching a paw carefully into the rift and feeling his ghost half surge with an odd tingling sensation not felt since the accident with the proto-portal the year before. Pulling his paw back out of the rift, he thinks deeply for a moment and remarks, "Hmm… could this be a way into the Ghost Zone those two inventors described to us last year at the science expo?" he suggests, raising his brow and smirking impishly at the presence of such a rare possibility before him. "Could be. We'd best get our stuff before heading in there, though," she advises him. They take a moment to gather their things and brace themselves, taking deep breaths one after the other before slowly heading inside the rift as it gradually shrinks and disappears behind them.

The world inside the rift is absolutely astounding to behold. All around them, Ember and Rockwell find themselves surrounded on all sides by a seemingly boundless expanse of ectoplasmic energy, with the occasional ghostly structure dotting the eerie ethereal landscape. Fellow ghosts flit to and fro in the distance, heading swiftly to wherever they may, with some entering doors suspended freely in the air. "So this is the Ghost Zone," Ember announces. "Funny, this isn't exactly how I imagined it would be, but then again, it _is_ definitely otherworldly. Trippy, even," Rockwell explains, marveling at all the abnormalities around him. They slowly drift downward and land on solid ground, though it is more like a giant floating platform than anything else. Walking along what seems to be a faded stone pathway, they eventually come across another ghost, this one being what appears to be a traveling merchant setting up shop for the day by the wayside. "Greetings ma'am! Would you be so kind as to peruse my wares if perchance there is something among them you prefer?" the merchant requests of Ember. "Oh, well I'm not really interested in anything you're probably selling," she exclaims after briefly scanning his visible merchandise. "I don't have any ghost money or whatever it is you guys use for payment here, either. You see, I'm not actually from here and am new to this place," she continues with a sigh. "Oh really? If that's the case, allow me to make you a deal you can't resist!" the merchant responds, grimacing darkly. "What exactly are you implying?" she speaks while watching the ghost warily and wondering why he is suddenly being so nice to a stranger like her. Taking note of the guitar cases rather obviously in their possession, the merchant explains, "I see you're both guitarists. Tell me: how would you like it if I told you I was able to augment your instruments in such a way that they tap into and channel your ghost energy into powerful attacks unique to yourselves? It would be my greatest pleasure to fulfill, and completely free for you both, too! Whataya say?" While Ember remains unsure of what decision to make, Rockwell grows impatient and abruptly blurts out, "We'll take it!" "Excellent… I knew you couldn't refuse!" the merchant boasts.

After handing over their guitars for the merchant to work on, he takes a special tool (conspicuously branded with a large "DALV" logo) and uses it to emit some kind of ectoplasmic energy into the power supply system of each electric guitar. Next, he welds a special labeled dial onto Ember's guitar and a special differently labeled dial onto Rockwell's. He then asks for what kind of design they would like their guitars to have, including the color schemes. Deliberating for several minutes, Ember eventually decides on a snazzy teal and purple flame design (to reflect her name more accurately), while Rockwell chooses a more "classic" red and black design with a special paw print symbol inside of a bright yellow star on the lower front side of his guitar. Once he has applied the finishing touches, the merchant briefly describes what the improved guitars can do. "Your guitar, young missy, can now utilize your natural ectoplasmic energy combined with the sound amplification from your guitar to create and launch powerful blasts, the type and effect of the attack changing depending on which setting the dial is set to. As for your guitar Mr. Manectric, it's used similarly, yet differently from hers. In short, you can now use your guitar's natural abilities combined with both your electric and ectoplasmic powers to summon insanely strong enhanced thunderbolts, with the effects of each blast varying based on the innate control of your own abilities. Like most anything in life, the best way to understand and master these techniques is to thoroughly practice them. It also goes without saying that each guitar has now been rendered virtually indestructible and can still unleash their powerful attacks from either of you without even requiring a direct power source, since they use your natural ghost and electric energy as power sources," he expounds. "Wow! I must say I'm impressed at hearing what these guitars can do. Still, why do I have a feeling there's some kind of catch to all this?" Ember says, smirking a bit imagining how much potential chaos she could unleash with her guitar. "There's only one catch: there _isn't_ one! Heh heh ha!" the merchant replies in such a way that sends chills down her and Rockwell's spines.

"We should probably get going now. Thanks for the guitar upgrades ghost dude!" Ember tells the merchant. She puts her guitar away, as does Rockwell with his. When they start to turn away, the merchant insists they stay a little longer and presents them the deed to a sizeable tract of land and property in their own little corner of the Ghost Zone. "What's this for?" she asks, making a puzzled expression as she graciously accepts the document. "Oh, that? Let's just say it's a little bonus offered to every mature ghost that's new to the Ghost Zone. Think of it as your home away from home, if you will. I'm sure you'll greatly enjoy your own ghostly haven!" he states, leading them to their spacious auxiliary abode before parting ways with them. Once he is well distant from the two young rockers, the merchant takes out some kind of small transceiver device and uses it to contact an unknown individual. "Boss, turns out the mission was a surefire success! Tell Skulker he did his part good, too!" the merchant reveals. "Cheers to the both of you, then! You'll be rewarded well for your contributions to my plans. I'll be sure to keep our newest Ghost Zone residents more than satisfied in the coming years. You're free to carry on as you will now," the mysterious man responds, sharing a few ominous cackles together before ending the call. Being oblivious to all this, Ember and Rockwell explore their secondary residence and practice some of their new guitar moves before the thought of exactly how they will be able to get back home on earth again returns. "Hmm… there seems to be a spiral logo button on the back of my guitar. I hadn't noticed this earlier," Ember informs Rockwell, prompting him to search and discover an identical button on his guitar. "Let's see what it does," he proposes, striking a chord while holding the button down along with Ember. The result is rather unusual: a pair of green ectoplasmic spirals forms in front of them, creating a temporary one-way portal back to the "real" world. "Looks like these small portals are our ticket in and out of the Ghost Zone from now on. How very convenient to know," he explains. They take one more look at their novel Ghost Zone domain before heading back to earth, the portals marking their return by closing forever behind them. With life continuing to only get better and better for them in nearly every way, Ember and Rockwell can't help but feel this is the start of something great for them both. Though they naturally had no way of knowing for sure, what lie just around the corner for them soon after their initial Ghost Zone escapade would permanently alter their lives… on a global scale!


	7. Juke Box Heroes

**Chapter 7: "Juke Box Heroes"**

Approximately one month to the date of when Ember and Rockwell first discovered the Ghost Zone for themselves, they are practicing their singing skills together in their house. Being playful like always, Rockwell decides to mimic the voice of another artist rather than simply covering their song in his own natural singing voice. The song in question is Genesis's "Land of Confusion," and while he covers a line from the song's chorus, Ember notices how remarkably similar his voice is to Phil Collins's. "Uh, Rockwell, could you please sing that again?" she asks him politely. He shrugs and does as she asked him to, when he sees her eyes widen and expression become surprised. "Rocky, your voice! Your voice! It sounds exactly like the original singer's!" she exclaims. "Whoa, you're right, it does sound similar!" he agrees, singing two more lines to make sure. "Ember, I have a theory. Try singing one of your favorite songs and sounding like the original singer while doing so," he recommends. She takes a moment to decide on a song, selecting Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." While singing the chorus, she stops mid-sentence and gasps at her voice's insanely imitative quality. "It really is true! We _can_ sing like whomever we want to! The only thing left to wonder is why we never learned of this amazing ability before…," she notes. "Hmm… perhaps we never noticed before because we always tried to cover a song, not imitate the original artist's voice exactly," he explains. They settle on that reason and have much fun imitatively singing all of their most favorite songs at that point. "It must also be our ghost powers that give us this ability or something. The times I imitated singers' voices when I was younger never turned out this good at all," she tells him, Rockwell nodding back at her in agreement. "We should totally use this newfound talent at our street concert this weekend! I'm sure everyone there will enjoy it very much, heh heh!" he suggests with a clever wink. "Ha, totally boy!" she replies, giggling for a moment before smirking impishly. Even he never imagined what would ultimately be in store for them, though.

The following weekend, Ember and Rockwell have just finished up another one of their weekly street performances (to which the audience went absolutely berserk in cheering over their new singing talents) when they are approached by a clapping man in a fedora and a trench coat. His figure is rather slim and tall, but his face and head are fully cloaked in shadow due to his wide hat's rim, making his appearance all the more imposing to witness. "Bravo bravo you two! It's not every day you hear someone sing exactly like another established artist, let alone _two_ people. That's why I've got an astounding proposition for you both. Follow me if you care to learn more, and know that an opportunity like this is often once in a lifetime!" the man says with a shady snicker. Though somewhat suspicious of who this man is and what his ultimate intentions are, they pack up their equipment and follow him as he instructed. He leads them downtown, near the center of the bustling Amity Park business sector, and into a tall skyscraper. Next, they enter an elevator with him and take it to the sixty-sixth floor (out of seventy). During the long elevator ride, Ember whispers to Rockwell, asking if he noticed his ghost sense shortly after they first met the man. He nods silently, glaring at the man behind his back with even deeper suspicion than before with this in mind. At the destination floor, the door opens and they follow a long darkened corridor to a room at the far end of it.

Shutting the door behind them, the man walks across the room and sits in a large armchair in front of a small blazing fireplace. "Please help yourselves to a seat of your own," the man tells them, his voice strangely suave and cool. Ember and Rockwell put aside their equipment and take their seats as offered while the man produces a clipboard with a single piece of paper on it and a pen to go along with it. He pauses to fill out a few things in the somewhat dim lighting, then clears his throat and looks across at them both. "Let's keep this short. This is the headquarters of Sinister Records, and I'm the CEO and chief producer here at the company. The company hasn't been around for very long now, but as it stands, it's still reasonably successful for a young corporation. We here at Sinister Records have been searching direly for an act so successful, it'll finally put us on the map and draw investors (and their money) from all over the world to our company. After years of searching, I believe I've finally found the perfect flagship act for us: you two. All I need is for you both to sign this measly paper here, and it's all yours! Fame! Fortune! Respect! Think about it!" he explains. He gives them a moment to let it sink in before walking over and handing the clipboard and pen to Ember. "Oh gosh, I uh… I never actually though this would happen, er… aw heck, is this even real?!" she remarks, shaking nervously and exchanging unsure glances with Rockwell. "This deal… this is what we've prayed and waited for all this time Em! Remember? All those times we dreamed of becoming global rock stars? This is it! This is finally it! We can't afford to let this opportunity pass us by! I mean… can we?" he responds, feeling slightly puzzled at all this too, a part of him wanting it to be true while the other part wonders what they are actually getting themselves into. This man was very suspicious from the start, especially to him, and he only seemed to grow all the more so with every passing minute – no, make that _second_. Why had their ghost senses actively warned them to the presence of a ghost the moment after they met him? Even now, the feeling still remained, and it felt stronger than ever the more he considered its implications. "Let me answer your question for you. You CAN, so just do it! I don't like wasting valuable time, you know…," the man trails off, almost coming off as threatening in tone. Having read the full terms of the agreement on the contract, which were actually highly lenient for a first-time artist, Ember decides she has nothing more to lose and a whole lot to gain and signs the contract using her legal birth name without a second thought (though she spells her last name with an _e_ tacked on, appearing as _McLaine_ and done purposefully to superficially dissociate herself with her parents), passing the clipboard to her trusty canine companion. Rockwell hesitates a bit longer, but shakes his head slightly knowing his master has already signed it and loyally signs it himself anyway, despite his now suppressed better judgment.

"Congratulations you two! You're now official artists of Sinister Records! I have no doubt you'll both become global superstars in no time at all, ha ha ha!" the man proclaims, chuckling heartily in such a way that almost resembles malevolent cackling to Rockwell. The man snatches away the clipboard and pen from Rockwell's grasp without warning, slips them back into his trench coat, checks his opulent platinum wristwatch, and escorts the two to the door once they have retrieved their things. "Your services here today have expired, I'm afraid. I'll be expecting you both here in the main studio room by 9:00 AM sharp tomorrow. There, you'll find some of my most eager recording personnel awaiting you, as well as some very experienced backing bandmates for you both. The best of luck to you both in all your future career endeavors!" the man assures them, patting Ember on the back a little too low for her taste, discomforting her greatly and causing Rockwell to raise his hackles slightly before standing down. On the way back to the elevator, they notice an exceptionally large fully illuminated portrait of presumably the exact same man they just met with mere moments before. A small plaque below the picture reads: VLAD MASTERS, SINISTER RECORDS FOUNDER & CEO. _"Vlad Masters, huh? I'll be sure to keep a special eye and ear open for that name whenever else I hear it again,"_ Rockwell thinks to himself, glaring at the smug expression depicted by Masters in the painting, one that struck him as being fairly foreboding. When the elevator arrives for them to take downward, he enters it with Ember and discusses his instinctive thoughts on the whole scenario, which she mostly agrees with and completely understands, since she shares many of the same gut feelings as him. "We'll talk about it later tonight once we're back home. Sound like a plan Rocky?" she asks him, leaving the elevator and approaching the building's glass doorways across the wide lobby. "You know what? I was thinking exactly the same thing!" he discloses with a slight chuckle, exiting the building and taking note of its location for future reference before trekking it all the way to their distant suburban home. She makes sure to call her manager at Backstreet Blue Jay's and sever her employment their indefinitely, much to the disappointment of her manager and regular patrons, especially the young man she met their every week she was ever there.

That night, Ember and Rockwell review everything occurring earlier that day, particularly the part concerning their surprise record deal with one Vlad Masters. "He just seemed so very eager to get us to sign the contract, you know? It's what bothers me most about this whole thing. That, and the fact that the man wouldn't even show us his actual face in person. We had to find out who he really was from that big picture of his hanging by the elevator," he expresses. "Tell me about it. Also, the way he treated me was particularly offensive. His hand was nearly touching my butt at one point!" she mutters angrily, her face looking greatly displeased. "I say that we should keep a close eye on him as time goes on, but for now, let's focus mainly on our new career. This is the big break we've both been waiting for, and we've gotta give it all we've got!" he states with an affirmative bark once Ember nods in agreement, moving closer to him. "Rocky, this is the start of something awesome, and there's nobody else I'd rather share it with than you. Let's _do_ it!" she tells him, smiling warmly. The two share a close hug together and set their alarm clocks to 8:30 AM before heading to bed soon afterwards.

Ember and Rockwell arrive bright and early the next morning at the recording studio, meeting the recording crew and checking in with Mr. Masters himself for their first time there as official Sinister Records personnel. "Welcome back! I knew you'd be right on time! Now then, get to it!" he commands everyone in the room, including them, before returning to his head office. They soon meet their new bandmates: Tony the keyboardist, Peter the bassist, and Dennis the drummer. Shortly after meeting them, though, Ember and Rockwell's ghost senses detect their presence, confirming to them that they are all three ghosts (or at least part ghost). They keep this fact to themselves as usual and press onward in working with their new team, filling out the rest of the main band roles as lead female vocalist/rhythm guitarist (Ember) and lead male vocalist/lead guitarist (Rockwell), with Rockwell taking the rhythm guitar role for himself if there was only a single guitar in a particular song segment. Once they have had several practice sessions together, Ember and Rockwell were highly satisfied with the band's overall synergy and great adaptability potential, leading to all of them having a much deserved lunch break together, during which Ember discussed her ideas on an original song concept of hers. Although they were a cover band first and foremost (with Vlad Masters taking care of all the legalities and copyright issues for performing others' songs for them), their contract allowed them to put out the occasional original song too, including their leadoff single, of which Ember already had in mind. Pulling out a small scrap of paper from her pocket, she shares its lyrical contents with the rest of the band. "So guys, what do ya think? I've been writing this for the past couple years now and I think it's more than worthy enough to be our lead single. I call it: 'Rem **E** mber!'" she describes. To her surprise, everyone acts as if they really like her efforts here, though Rockwell offers a few more lyrical suggestions fitting within the song's rhyming meter. She takes most of them and reviews the song again, liking it even more than before. They decide posthaste to begin preparations to write music befitting the song and rehearsing it with and without vocal arrangements, which easily takes up the rest of the afternoon that day and the rest of their first full week of work as recording artists. They also determine the official name of their band: the simple and obvious Ember and Rockwell.

The next week, Ember determines it is time for a new style for her and Rockwell, since they were now real rock stars in the making. The product of much internal deliberation, she dyes her hair a vibrant cyan color and eventually puts together the following onstage getup: a black top (ending just above and exposing the midriff), black pants, black socks, and silvery gray platform shoes, some specially shaped makeup markings around her eyes (with her right eye's design similar to the tail of a treble clef and her left eye's design similar to that of a bass clef to symbolize her love of music), dark black eyeliner, and deep purple lipstick, in addition to several miscellaneous accessories and features. Rockwell's preferred onstage look is not nearly as fancy as his owner's, comprising of his usual clothing with some added flair from a cool pair of sunglasses, a black leather jacket, and a spiky black collar. They both agree that their new appearances are highly befitting their individual personalities and are, as Ember put it, "totally cool!" Even their "big bad CEO" Vlad Masters thoroughly agrees with this. They especially enjoyed posing for their future liner photos, Rockwell being playfully silly in a few of them. Ember cannot help but laugh at his classic canine antics.

Soon enough, Ember and Rockwell are finally ready to record their first demo of "RemEmber." It turns out really well, so well that it ends up being the only demo version necessary to be recorded prior to the official studio recording of it, which occurs the day afterwards. "All right, nice work everyone! Once we have the boss's approval, we can start making duplicate copies and release the record nationally at every major retailer by the end of next week," the recording manager explains, sealing the original master copy into a glass-coated plaque on the back wall of the studio at Masters's recommendation. Between then and the official date of their debut single (set to July 27, 2000), their agent arranges for an outdoor concert in Amity Square downtown that is to be composed of their single as well as various song covers. This, they hoped, would be more than enough to permanently propel them into the public consciousness and get them many a company begging for them to endorse their products, bringing in that much more money to Sinister Records and ultimately themselves.

As it turns out, their "RemEmber" song release breaks all records for a debut single at that time by literally going platinum in a single day, with both the general public and the media absolutely abuzz over them for it. Vlad Masters is, of course, highly pleased by these results, and has a studio representative speak in an interview with _The Amity Park Gazette_ on their behalf. "What would you say is the secret to Ember and Rockwell's unprecedented debut success?" the interviewer asks. "Well, I'd say for them, it's most likely their unbridled passion for music as well as the unrivaled direction they've received working for us at Sinister Records, particularly our charismatic CEO," the representative states. Once details from the interview are released, though, Ember has some choice words to tell the newspaper herself. "Look, I don't care how 'wonderful' and 'charming' our executive supposedly is. Our success is purely our own and our band's. That's it. Frankly, if they've got a problem with that, the studio staff can suck it," she tells them, Rockwell seconding her assertion. While the rest of the Sinister Records staff are more than a little irritated with what they believe to be a rash assumption on Ember's part, Mr. Masters is surprisingly calm about it all, not taking it personally and issuing an anonymous press release statement saying that he "fully supports that same rebellious attitude they so astoundingly espouse." After all, for him, it meant attracting more of the youthful crowd on that front while still drawing adult attention for all the older songs they covered from the previous generation of artists (though not quite reaching most of those in the elderly generations for obvious reasons). "Nice to know that at least our boss knows what's up, unlike the rest of his dipstick staff," Ember tells Rockwell one day, rolling her eyes at the mere thought of anyone daring to speak for them falsely. "Yeah, heh! Who has the right to speak for us but us?" he responds, smirking momentarily and readjusting his shades a bit before practicing another epic guitar solo. Fortunately, this never happens again for them, since they answer all their interview questions for themselves rather than via proxy.

Later that same year, they release their first album, consisting of their now globally famous "RemEmber" single as well as a bonus remix of it as the opening and closing tracks of their album, respectively. The remainder of the album is purely covers of preexisting songs. The critics were virtually all in agreement about the insane unrealistic level of talent they must possess to sound exactly like the artists they covered in their prime (or at least however they sounded the time of the original recording of each song). However, one in particular regarded it as a "pathetic" debut since they relied far too heavily on "cloned cover recordings" plus a "cheesy clichéd" pop single to make their sales. To this, Ember personally replies: "You know, some people out there apparently have a problem with our music. For those that simply dislike it due to it 'not being their thing,' that's fine. I totally understand and respect that. However, for those that hate it adamantly because they hate us personally, our image, or the fact that we're mostly cover artists, I challenge them to respectfully shut up, shove it, and screw off!" Naturally, some people heavily criticized her comeback as being distasteful and immature, but guess what? She did not care in the slightest, nor did Rockwell, since he was equally offended by those certain critics' statements. Most youths hailed her as a hero of sorts – a harbinger of the "youth liberation front." Most of their parents were torn, though: while the majority loved and identified with many of the group's older song covers, they also highly opposed Ember's general style and attitude.

Each passing year signaled the rise to even greater prominence for Ember and Rockwell, their fame having grown to global proportions in a matter of months once their debut record is released internationally. Additionally, they experiment in incorporating a much more diverse selection of genres into their work, from electronica to jazz and even a little country and hip-hop at one point, along with the obligatory wide variety of rock and pop. They tour in North America only their first year (primarily in the United States as their country of origin), but by their third year, they are touring everywhere from New York City to Tokyo, from London to Rio de Janeiro, and from Sydney to Johannesburg. During the end of their third tour in mid-2003, Ember inadvertently discovers a new ability of her guitar, which makes her wonder if it is a glitch or a feature: if she sets the dial exactly halfway between the heart symbol (for love spells) and the spiral symbol (for general mind control), which is later the location of a special flame symbol she adds after discovering this, she can cause anyone that's not part-ghost (or otherwise immune via anti-ghost technology) and that has any legitimate love for Ember and/or her music to be under an indefinite fanboy/fangirl "spell," becoming indefinitely influenced by her propaganda much more actively than usual, just by striking a simple guitar chord with the dial set as such. The guinea pigs for this little mind trick are the audience at her Los Angeles leg of the tour. Upon noticing the effect taking place, yet not making her fans _too_ obsessively crazy for her, she gets the dark idea to begin secretly spreading her influence through her live concerts wherever she goes, not even telling Rockwell about it at first, since she knows he would likely try to convince her to stop abusing it. But it was SO tempting for her to abstain from doing, and hey, as the saying goes, what they don't know won't hurt 'em, right? This is what she chose to believe, and as such, she continued her hidden plot until nearly every single fan of hers was henceforth genuinely crazy for Ember McLaine, chanting her name almost religiously at every concert by the summer of 2004. Before the final performance of her fourth tour (from 2003-2004), Rockwell verbally prayed alone with her for God to continue to bless them in all they do in their lives. Being the less faithful of the two, she felt very uneasy and even convicted for her illicit actions against her own unsuspecting fans. "Something wrong Em?" he asks her following the prayer. "N… no. I'm fine. I think…," she mumbles, her face seeming guilty for a moment before returning to its normal state soon before the concert begins. Rockwell keeps his suspicions inside for now, but he never forgets her reaction that day and plans to eventually approach her about it in the near future.

Unsurprisingly, the many critics that already heavily lauded Ember and Rockwell lauded them even more when they became victims of her coercive fan spell, practically writing literal love letters in their reviews about everything from Ember's music to her looks and even her personal dietary preferences. One publication heralded her as being a "veritable cross between Madonna and Avril Lavigne mixed with some Pat Benatar and a little Kelly Clarkson," a "modern pop princess," and the "Cover Girl" to Madonna's "Material Girl" status (since she's billed as a cover artist first and foremost). Rockwell, strangely enough, did not receive even half of their attention despite being previously considered Ember's equal in the band. While some lesser popular periodicals (including _Dog Fancy_ , which declared Rockwell "Dog of the Year" every year since their debut, from 2001-2004), all major ones (from _Time_ to _Rolling Stone_ , the former headlining her as being "The Ember that Started a Musical Wildfire" and the latter doing so as simply being "The Ember to Remember") focused almost exclusively on Ember. This annoyed Rockwell to no end, but he respected and loved his master greatly and did not dare attempt to steal the spotlight from her by any means. It did make him seem as the much more respectable humble one of the two, though, which benefited him passively in other ways. In some respects, the future seemed brighter than ever for the two rising superstars, but at the same time, it also seemed wildly uncertain and perhaps even a little foreboding in ways. Rockwell was almost questioning if they were starting to forget who they really were anymore, but as before, he kept his muzzle shut in lieu of more indulgence of all the worldly prestige he could ever want and more. As far as Ember was concerned, they were on the verge of something huge: a revolution. And who was all alone standing at the forefront of all this? One feisty Ember Ann McLaine, that's who!


	8. PAT (Pretty Annoying Thing)

**Chapter 8: "P.A.T. (Pretty Annoying Thing)"**

Now that Ember and Rockwell were well-established global artists, they had much greater corporate control of when and where they performed. As such, they often preferred to perform many concerts locally at venues of their choosing all around the Amity Park metropolitan area, it being their hometown and all. It came to pass that one night at one of those particular venues (a medium-sized indoor theater in central uptown Amity), the show was going great as usual so far, the crowd enthralled with virtually everything Ember said and did onstage, thanks in part to her putting them in that trance-like state from before. However, one thing was about to change all that. Something that Ember had feared would never happen to her publicly, though also felt was likely inevitable at some point or another: unwarrantedly hostile confrontation by her parents. Shortly after the last song (a cover of contemporary artist Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You") prior to intermission ended, Ember was making gracious statements to the audience for their continued active support and participation when she saw them: the two that had always held her back her entire childhood, from her point of view. Her "wonderful" parents. Instantly, she shot the coldest most visibly angry look she could at them as soon as she recognized who they were. They were not alone, though, for alongside them were a pair of Manectrics somewhat similar in appearance to Rockwell, especially the male one: Rockwell's parents. His initial reaction was more of surprise than irritation, though that would change soon after conversing with them momentarily.

"Hello Emily. Remember us?" David asks his daughter with an unforgiving smirk. Ember rolls her eyes like she so often used to with them, faces him, and replies, "What the heck do you want?" A tone of obvious vitriol in Ember's voice, David wastes no time in rebuking her publicly. "Well Miss Rebel, you're one to talk. Just look at you! Look at you both! What the heck are you two even wearing?! You look like such wicked freaks!" he informs her in a frustrated tone of voice, Mary nodding in support of her husband's accusation. "Hey, lay off now, will you? We're over you guys already!" Rockwell interjects on Ember's behalf. "You're part of this too mister! Don't think we didn't hear about all your grandstanding around the globe with your so-called 'master!' It's about time you learned your lesson as well Noname," Rockwell's father exclaims, Rockwell's mother glaring at him right beside her husband. "Hey, don't call me that anymore! I've got a name now, and the name's Rockwell!" he asserts, snarling under his breath defensively. "You're both in a lot of trouble!" David assumes, banking on the chance that Ember and Rockwell actually succumb to their pressured demands through intimidation and/or public humiliation. "You both no longer have any power over us! It's _our_ life now! MY life!" Ember states adamantly, improvising a quick cover of the chorus of No Doubt's "It's My Life" on the spot just to prove her point further. To this, the crowd thinks the intermission is suddenly over and begins to grow restless, booing both pairs of parents loudly and throwing various articles of trash and concession debris at them. "Security, escort these four fools offsite this instant!" Ember orders after finishing her song segment, staring daggers straight into her parents' eyes from her onstage vantage point as a few guards forcibly escort them out. "Mark my words young lady, someday you'll see the error of your ways! You hear me? SOMEDAY!" David yells back at her, sighing once he is outside the venue and consoling his weeping wife all the way back home. Rockwell's parents are equally perturbed about all this, but are not quite as emotional about it for whatever reason, leaving quietly and returning to their masters' home swiftly. Ember and Rockwell quickly recover from this little incident from all the cheering of the crowd before them, finishing the concert and heading back home for the day soon after.

"I can't believe they actually had the audacity to chastise us in the middle of a concert like that, and in public, too! How disrespectful could they be, y'know?" Ember discusses with Rockwell as they get ready for bed. "Exactly, if they're truly serious about us showing the slightest respect to them, they'd better lead by example, if you know what I mean," he responds, putting his performance accessories away and curling up in his bed to rest. "I couldn't agree more boy. Come now, let's get some rest," she says, yawning and crawling into her own bed to sleep. Rockwell thinks a silent prayer to himself as he drifts away, but Ember fails to do so, her ego beginning to interfere a bit too much for comfort. The following morning, they discover that apparently, someone in the local media was at that concert and reported what they observed with Ember's and Rockwell's parents, including the audience's reaction to them, too. This was the first truly embarrassing thing to be publicly broadcast about them, and it was not even their own fault, technically speaking. Both Ember and Rockwell declined to speak about what had occurred, only saying that they "have their reasons" for resisting their parents' interference so fervently like they did. They sincerely hoped nothing like that ever happened again as long as they lived, especially publicly when others were present.

During the days following the incident with their parents, Ember received word from Rockwell that apparently, a certain steadily growing online community was creating and posting grotesque images of Ember, Rockwell, or both of them collectively onto various websites without their permission. The images, which ranged from the seemingly innocent to the outright obscene, portrayed the two of them as very heavily anthropomorphized animals, some even going so far as to make them appear to be a couple (with both of them shown as being Manectrics). Understandably, they did not approve of such images being produced and disseminated across the Web without their explicit permission, and immediately arranged for their agent to contact the offending websites' owners to request the immediate removal of said images. They were soon successful in having them taken down, in addition to imposing a universal ban on anyone attempting to portray them in any offensive manner again throughout the entire Internet, much to the frustration of most of those original image posters. Some of the offenders banded together in a futile attempt to oppose the ban on such images, citing "freedom of speech" and similar excuses to try to justify their immoral behavior. It was ultimately all in vain, though it still did not stop them from labeling Ember and Rockwell as "immature haters," though they both quickly cited the offenders' own immature hatred for causing a relatively small conflict to grow into a much bigger problem. At some of their future concerts, there were protestors representing the offending group's ignorant interests, but once Ember called them out by name, they were essentially chased off by her rabid fan base, never to be seen at another event of theirs ever again. "Rockwell, why are some people so stupid sometimes?" Ember asks him candidly one evening, shaking her head. "Hmm… my best guess is that's usually because they think they're right regardless whether they're really wrong or not in actuality," he tells her. She agrees, playfully tackling Rockwell on his bed and sharing a laugh together with him. The two only grew stronger from such controversy, now rendered virtually inseparable.


	9. You Give Love a Bad Name

**Chapter 9: "You Give Love a Bad Name"**

Another ostensibly ordinary day dawns over Amity Park, every ordinary resident awakening bright and early to prepare for another work day. Ember and Rockwell are no exception to this rule, getting dressed and eating breakfast before leaving to head to the Sinister Records recording studio. They can barely take a step out their front door when Rockwell smells a bizarrely familiar foreign scent coming from a small note just beneath the door handle. He hands the scrap to Ember, who reads it aloud: "Dear Ms. McLaine, your stellar presence has been cordially requested to attend a private formal dinner occasion tonight at 7:30. You are permitted only a single guest to bring along with you, if you wish. Directions to the dinner's location are on the backside of this note. See you then (hopefully…). – your Secret Admirer. " Rockwell cannot help but smirk at her as she finishes reading the message, chuckling slightly. "Looks like somebody's got a crush on you Emmy!" he remarks after seeing the little heart symbol concluding the note, flicking his tail against the backs of her legs. Nudging him gently, she comments, "Yeah yeah, apparently. Obviously, you're gonna be my guest, so be prepared to accompany me for this later. I wonder who sent this." He informs her of the familiar scent left on the note while she flips it over, viewing a small map of the event's location… in the Ghost Zone of all places! "Whoa, hold on! This thing's happening there?!" she says, being taken aback at the prospect of returning there for a potentially romantic dinner of all things. "This can only mean one thing: a ghost, or a half-ghost like us, has the hots for me. It's so clear now. Why's this kind of stuff gotta keep happening to me? I don't deserve it," she exclaims rhetorically with a big sigh. "Wait, are you seriously treating this like a bad thing? Why not see it as an opportunity? Besides, if worst came to worst, you can just play this sorry punk like an out of tune guitar!" he reminds her with a clever wink. Pausing momentarily to consider her options, she smiles equally cleverly back at him, speaking, "Good point boy! You've always got such great ideas, ha ha! I love it!" "Which is why you should listen to me more often about these kinds of things," he adds. "Oh please, I do so well enough as it is," she returns, giggling. Keeping this in mind for now, they leave for the studio and another hard day's work.

That evening, they arrive back home and browse their wardrobes for whatever fine clothing they wish to wear for the special surprise occasion. Ember settles on a dazzling diamond-studded dress, white gloves, and low heels (she hated the way tall ones felt on her feet), while Rockwell opts for a nice tuxedo of his, a silk-coated jacket, nice cotton pants, and dress shoes. Ember also decides to wear her hair down rather than in a ponytail – a rarity for her. They leave their weaponized guitars behind as they use them to create temporary portals to the Ghost Zone, entering ghost mode as they enter them side by side. Starting from their home base, they ensure everything remains in order there as they last left it before following the map exactly to their destination: a sizeable plot of ectoplasmic land floating amidst the relative void of the Ghost Zone surrounding it. On closer inspection, the island almost seemed to contain some kind of ghostly subtropical forest, with several traps scattered throughout the area. Rockwell nearly falls into a camouflaged pit in one section, catching himself in midair by activating his hovering ability. "Whew, that was close!" he states, brushing himself off casually. "What kind of place is this? Doesn't look very formal to me," Ember notes as she peers around a bush or two for any more potential traps. "I dunno, but we read the map correctly, and it leads here," he admits while cautiously rounding a corner in front of Ember. Eventually, they arrive at a large cabin-like structure in the thickest part of the forest. Checking his watch and seeing that it is nearly 7:30 PM, Rockwell says, "This is it. It _must_ be. There's nothing else out here." They slowly approach the entrance to the building, climb the front stairs, and knock on the door (in lieu of an electronic doorbell).

Heavy steps can be heard thudding across the floor on the other side of the door. The lock clicks as the door swings wide open, revealing one grinning decked out Skulker. "You again! What do _you_ want?" a visibly disgusted Ember complains, putting her hands on her hips in stark disapproval. "Welcome Ember! Glad to see you dressed so stunningly!" Skulker greets her, glaring at Rockwell from over her shoulder. "Oh, it's you again whelp. How very predictable of you to come along with her," Skulker continues. "Hey, I'm no whelp!" Rockwell defends himself with a low growl. "You should know darn well by now that wherever I go, Rockwell follows," Ember reminds Skulker. "Yes yes, of course. Whatever. Just make haste and follow me. Our time together is of the essence!" Skulker states. Ember and Rockwell reluctantly follow him inside the house and over to a small dinner table in an adjacent room. The room is illuminated only by candlelight, the air filled with a pleasant spiced scent. Taking their seats, they discover a veritable smorgasbord of food before them. "Feel free to help yourselves to whatever you please. The pleasure is mine!" Skulker advises them, helping himself to a decent portion of ribeye steak. Confused by Skulker's sudden apparent kindness, Ember cannot resist asking as she takes some food for herself, "Okay, something's weird about all this. Why would you just go and invite us to a nice dinner like this?" Smiling at the point made by his main guest, Skulker eyes her intently and explains, "You see, it's because you deserve it and because, well… I'm not entirely sure how to say this, but from the first moment I laid eyes on you, I became enamored with you like no other before or since. Consider this our first date, heh heh heh!" "Date?! No… no way! You really wanna, er… DATE me?" Ember replies, eyes widened and mouth partially agape. Rockwell is equally surprised at this, a similar expression upon his face. _"Is he crazy? He obviously has no idea of the disaster I went through last time I tried dating someone. Perhaps… I can toy around with this unlucky tool for whatever he's worth just to keep him off our backs!"_ Ember muses, smirking slightly before clearing her throat to speak. "Uh, sure. You can date me. I'm perfectly fine with that, especially if this is how you treat your beloved guest!" she accepts. Rockwell questions her to see if she is really serious about going through with doing this, but she tells him not to worry about it and that she would reveal the exact ramifications of what she meant to him another time. The rest of the dinner proceeds as usual, with Skulker getting to know Ember and Rockwell better (and vice versa) during their meal's duration.

Probably the single biggest thing Skulker prides himself with is his allegedly superior hunting skills, of both fellow ghosts and "traditional" biological creatures alike. In fact, some of the meal they were dining on was freshly killed and prepared by him earlier that same day, including some pheasant as well as venison. "Why did you try to hunt me before, I should wonder? I'm not prey you know," Rockwell questions him. "The answer is simple: you're relatively new ghost quarry, and as a big game ghost hunter, I'd be a fool to let the opportunity to stalk you at least once elude me," Skulker answers. "Never again though, especially now that we're 'dating,'" Ember remarks sternly, Skulker nodding at her in assurance of that fact. They further discuss some of Skulker's greatest hunting exploits, with prey ranging from common squirrels to enormous ghost beasts of all kinds, some of which were mounted upon his mantle. To conclude the meal, he offers each of them a glass of the finest wine he could procure to mark the occasion. Rockwell takes a single sniff of the substance and decides it is far too pungent for him to partake in, while Ember tries a small sip, but immediately spits it out into her napkin. "Ugh… that's stuff's potent! Way too much so for my taste. No wonder my parents never drink, it's awful!" she exclaims, still cringing from the flavor. "You do both realize how much this particular specimen costs me, don't you? Wait, let me answer that for you: nothing! I stole it, HA! With ghost powers, who needs to buy anything honestly?" Skulker brags with the occasional chortle. "That still doesn't make it right," Rockwell states as Ember nods briefly in total accord with his response. "Sure, you might say that now, but you've probably never even tried stealing something with your powers, have you?" Skulker asks them, and upon receiving blank expressions from them both, adds, "Pf, just as I thought. You haven't, so you have no right to speak of my affairs!" He finishes his glass, puts the bottle away, and serves the two a small room temperature dessert as a parting gift. "It was grand having your lovely presence here Miss Ember! May we dine together again another time, heh heh heh!" Skulker says, opening the door for them to leave through and waving farewell to them as they go their separate ways for the evening, Skulker creating a pair of temporary portals for them to return back to their home in the material world.

For the next several weeks, Ember continues to "date" Skulker, though she of course is faking it the entire time out of payback for how he initially treated Rockwell the first time they encountered him. When he starts imposing himself a little too aggressively onto Ember, she reveals her intentions all along, much to his dismay. "B… but… you can't just leave me like this! What the heck is wrong with you, UGH!" Skulker growls irritably once the news has finally been broken to him. "It's you whelp, it must be! Getting inside Ember's head like that… you must've turned her against me! I swear you'll pay for this! The BOTH of you! Someday…," he complains, storming off elsewhere deep into the Ghost Zone. "Gee, he took that well," Ember tells Rockwell sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the very idea of his seeking future vengeance against them. "Totally," Rockwell replies. That same night, Ember conveys some of her deepest romantic feelings to Rockwell. "I just want a guy that loves me for who I am, sincerely and truly through and through, regardless of my imperfections. Is that really too much to ask for?" she expresses to him, sighing deeply with a frown steadily growing on her face. Rockwell moves over to comfort her with a loving lick and a nuzzle, reminding her, "That's perfectly normal to feel that way. I honestly feel the same way, even from a male perspective. It's all give and take anyway." "Oh Rocky… sometimes, I really wish you were human too. I would _so_ date you if that were ever the case. Your personality is something most anyone could fall in love with one way or another. You're so very caring, lovable, understanding, everything. Amazing, really," she admits to him, holding him close and kissing him gently on the muzzle. "Oh, well, heh… thanks. I hadn't quite realized that before, but I'm flattered to know you feel that way. Don't worry, our true mates are out there somewhere. God will lead them to us when the time is just right, I do faithfully believe," he whispers to her softly. Smiling handsomely, he rests his head upon his master's lap and makes himself comfortable on her bed beside her. She says a silent prayer to herself before lying beside Rockwell and holding him in her arms before gradually drifting off to sleep peacefully.

By the end of September, Ember was beginning to have hatred brew inside of her. She had been dwelling on things in the past that haunted her, lurking in the darkest recesses of her own subconscious. Things about her parents ruining everything from birthday after birthday in her youth to the public concert they crashed fairly recently, kicking her and Rockwell out of the house, and threatening their lives on multiple occasions, not to mention ruining any chance she ever had with her ex-boyfriend and corporeally punishing her to the point of physical abuse at times when she was little. The fact that they could likely never be a real loving family as she had always wanted them to be tore her apart inside, and she spent many long nights crying in her sleep over it, ever grateful to have Rockwell always by her side to help her endure it all and keep her occasionally wavering faith intact.

One day, though, she reckoned she had cried enough tears and lamented in anguish on her past fears to the point where it was time for some serious retribution. "Rockwell, what would you say if I told you it was time for a, oh what would you call it… revolution of sorts among today's youth?" she inquires of him sternly. "I'd probably say you were crazy and wonder exactly what your motivations for doing so were," he replies. "It figures you'd say something like that. Still, I've had enough of parents ruining the lives of kids and young adults everywhere, and I believe it's high time somebody did something about that. Something the adults will surely never forget," she explains. "Let me guess: that 'somebody' is you, isn't it?" he conjectures. She smirks in confirmation of this, describing the core aspects of her plan in detail for him to fully understand. Apparently, she plans on using her music and influence (including the super-secret ghost spell she has been using without Rockwell's knowledge) in tandem with one another to convince and encourage rebellious behavior in them toward their parents and any other adults that stand in their way, especially those representing the much despised societal establishment. "I really don't like the potential consequences of carrying this out, not to mention the way others might view us for inciting such an event," he wisely advises his wannabe wayward master. "Don't worry about that boy. They won't know exactly how we're doing what we're doing, and even if they're smart enough to trace it back to us somehow, they won't be able to stop us. It's not like I'm asking for us younger ones to conquer the world or anything extreme. Just reminding the powers that be who's REALLY in charge of continuing all their legacies once they're long gone and persuading them to respect us much more greatly in the meantime. Is that so wrong?" she inquires, making her point clearer than ever to Rockwell. Sighing deeply, he hopes to God he does not regret going along with Ember here and shakes his head slowly, saying, "I guess not. Let's do this!" "That's the spirit, HA! C'mon Rocky, we've got a revolution to start and a world to rock!" she shouts excitedly, whooping a few more times for good measure before firing a pair of ectoplasmic rays from her middle fingers at a picture of her parents lying along the wall nearby.

Wasting no time making the final preparations for her scheme in the days that follow, she schedules the peak of her globally dominating influence to take place at midnight to kick off the early morning hours of the Friday before her twenty-fourth birthday, which to her was looking to be the single greatest birthday of her entire lifetime so far, since that is when her revolution would be well underway. Surely nobody else would dare oppose her, particularly those among the youth she wished to "convert" over to her mentality in all this. Besides, who in their right minds would even be able to stand up to a pair as powerful as her and Rockwell? Unbeknownst to them both for now, the answer would come in the form of another that just so happened to be afflicted with the exact same powers they both were, a kind of person they had both assumed they were the only ones of in existence – another half-ghost, and a teenage one at that.


	10. Bad Boy, Bad Girl, Whatcha' Gonna Do?

**Chapter 10: "Bad Boy, Bad Girl, Whatcha' Gonna Do?"**

The onset of this new "revolution" initially consisted of Ember arranging a series of astonishingly free public concerts for her and Rockwell to perform all across the globe on every single continent, even one on Antarctica at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research facility (which was televised live to viewers in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States). In theory, the concerts were free as a form of thanks to all their many fans, but in actuality, they were so solely to make her that much more popular in the eyes of the world. Once she was sure enough of her global youth-attracting influence, she scheduled a citywide tour of her hometown of Amity Park, which was to be culminated by her first ever live worldwide broadcast. It was during that broadcast when she planned to play her secret mind control-inducing chords, ensuring her youth-led rebellion against the global establishment of adult authority she considered to be highly repressing of one's individuality – one of the most important aspects she cherished as the strong-willed independent-minded young woman she was. Any adults that happened to be similarly afflicted by the same spell would become rebellious against whichever elements of their social system they disagreed with or hated, in addition to supporting their younger compatriots in doing the same. Though she was as yet unsure of exactly how long the duration of the spell's effect would be, she figured that as long as she maintained her global superstar status, her influence would be maintained and the spell's effect would go along with it. Since he was still oblivious of her ultimate intentions with all this, Rockwell assumes that it is probably just another ruse of hers to further increase their publicity and fame. How was he to ever suspect that her guitar possessed such incredible influential power when he himself did not wield it nor discuss such things with her anyway? Thus, he stands by his master through it all almost without question, trusting her intentions as being not too contemptible for his taste.

The last leg of her citywide concert tour ended in front of the highest concentration of secular youth she could find: Casper High School. It was a late Thursday morning, the school day rapidly nearing its midpoint. All of the students were preparing for a round of important standardized testing to be taken the following morning, though of course many of them found such a prospect highly boring, with many of them growing restless. One such student was a young teenage boy named Danny Fenton. _"Ugh… could this day go by any slower? As annoying as Ember's popularity is, she's still more interesting than this stuff,"_ he thinks, sighing a long sigh while his teacher Mr. Lancer paces back and forth before the chalkboard rambling on about the importance of the test results to his salary and whatnot. A couple minutes later, the class roars into laughter as Lancer activates a DVD player expecting for a video explaining the test to play via overhead projector, when a music video of Ember rocking out onstage begins instead. "For the love of _Lolita_ , who put a concert disc in my DVD player?!" Lancer laments, demanding for an explanation. That explanation would never come, for just when he was about to give up and continue the lecture, a distant wail rang out from the street outside the school, and one that was all too familiar: Ember's signature singing of her original hit single, "RemEmber."

Instantly, every kid in the building immediately rushes outside to see her. Well, almost all of them, as Danny and his best friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley hang back and observe the chaotic scene before them. "What's with everyone? I don't see why Ember McLaine is so special. She literally comes out of nowhere copying a bunch of obviously better artists and suddenly the whole world acts like she's the best thing since sliced bread. Then she goes around touting individuality's importance to everyone, but look at her fans! They're literally all the same! Ugh!" Sam rants in distress, pointing out the fact that virtually every single student there was wearing some kind of matching Ember merchandise, from shirts to wigs. "That may be true, but still, you've at least gotta admit that nobody has talent quite like Ember. I mean, she can literally sing exactly like any other female artist! How cool is that? Her dog Rockwell's equally amazing," Tucker retorts defensively, approaching the crowd to get a better view of Ember. "Oh boy, there he goes again. Let's stay with him in case this gets any worse. There's something about Ember I just don't trust, and I… that's it, and again!" Danny explains as his ghost sense warns him not once, but twice as he approaches Ember and Rockwell's location, since he was in fact part ghost like they were. "Whoa! Sam, Tucker, I think we've got a double dose of ghostly trouble, and I'm pretty sure one of them is Ember. I'm not completely sure who the other is, although those band members sure look suspicious. It's probably for them or something," he alerts them. "Really? That would definitely explain a lot about how she's taken the world by storm so easily," Sam notes. Tucker does not seem to heed them, though, as he is clearly too occupied at the moment, chanting "Ember! Ember! Ember!" along with the rest of the crowd. "Still, I wonder why we're not affected by whatever she's done to the rest of her fans. Even Tucker here seems to be under her influence pretty strongly," Danny states. "Maybe it's 'cause of your ghost powers and my strong sense of true individuality? I dunno," Sam speculates with a slight smirk. They both continue to observe the crowd as well as Ember's shenanigans in the corners of their eyes.

"Hello Casper High! Tell me who you love!" Ember shouts after she finishes up her famous debut song. "Ember!" the crowd repeatedly chants, pleasing her greatly. However, both her and Rockwell notice their ghost senses exposing the presence of another nearby ghost. Glaring at the crowd as well as the surrounding area multiple times, neither of them see anything suspicious. They decide to keep their eyes peeled for any potential rival ghost should they show up before she continues with her speech. Interrupting her mid-sentence, Mr. Lancer yells out at her via megaphone: "Attention freakishly dressed teen idol: I order you to cease and desist!" Raising an eyebrow, Ember is clearly unamused by this. "Oh yeah? Desist this grandpa!" she objects, turning her special guitar dial to mind control status and striking a loud chord, unleashing a faint burst of ghostly energy that causes the front five rows of raving students to enter a zombie-like state, turn around, and rush toward Lancer angrily. " _Pride and Prejudice_ , someone help!" he cries, blocking his head with his arms crossed and closing his eyes. "Oh great, now I've gotta go save Lancer," Danny comments, entering ghost mode and flying behind him, placing his hands on Lancer's back, and causing both of them to go intangible, the students moving straight through them and some distance behind them before the spell's effects soon wear off. While Ember herself does not notice, Rockwell sees Danny cause Lancer to go intangible and notifies her of this fact. "Oh really? Well then, let's go for now. No need to waste our time here anymore," Ember says, rounding up the rest of band, entering ghost mode along with Rockwell, and flying away from the area to regroup. "All right, now it's time to knock the pop princess off her throne! I… hey, where'd they go?!" Danny exclaims, looking around and seeing no more sign of Ember, Rockwell, or the rest of their band. "I don't know, I wasn't looking either during all that confusion," Sam admits. "I don't see why you guys are so concerned about Ember. Even if she's a ghost, that doesn't automatically mean she's a problem," Tucker remarks defensively of Ember. Facing Sam, Danny shakes his head slightly and tells her in a low voice, "You know, I really hate to say this, but I think as long as Tucker's fanboying over Ember like that, he's likely going to become a liability for us in the long run." "Agreed. Tucker, come with us. We're going to be good friends and make sure you pass that test tomorrow no matter what!" Sam speaks, taking him by the hand and leading him back to their main classroom. They decide to forcibly tie him into a seat and place a special helmet-like object (attached to a futuristic studying device called the Cramtastic Mk. V) onto his head, which automatically teaches him various academic subjects through a rigorous training session. They wish him the best and shut the door firmly behind them, retrieving Danny's Fenton thermos before attempting to leave the building together and head out early for the day, considering every other student already did the same in pursuit of Ember. "Hold it you two! I might've lost the rest of the student body, but you're both staying put!" Lancer informs them, grabbing both of them firmly by the wrists and dragging them back toward the classroom. Danny smirks at Sam, holds her free hand with his own, and goes intangible, allowing them to easily sneak away from their teacher unhindered, to his eventual disbelief. Wasting no time, they head downtown together to gather more clues as to Ember's whereabouts.

Stopping to have lunch slightly earlier than usual, Ember and Rockwell discuss what had just occurred mere minutes before at the high school. "So, what you're telling me is that the kid you saw actually became a ghost, flew across the street, and made that irate teacher intangible? If so, there's absolutely no doubt: that kid's a ghost, and not an ordinary one at that. A half one, just like us," she exclaims, sighing as her face steadily transforms into a grimace. "Darn it, I could've sworn we were the only ones like this! That was one of our most special traits, and now this stupid brat comes along and steals it from us! How he ever gained such powers I'd really love to know, but until then, one thing is certain: next time we meet kid, and I've got the strangest feeling we will soon enough, you're going down if you dare interfere again! Nobody messes with Ember McLaine, HA!" she states contentedly, pounding her fist onto their dining table while Rockwell simply watches her smirking and snickering all his own.

Danny and Sam first head to his house to determine what their next course of action with Ember should be over lunch, walking downtown to see if there are any clues they might be able to gather about Ember's latest location. On the way there, they pass a small television store. Playing on one of the sets visible in the front window, a blaring advertisement for Abyss corduroy fleecy tees plays, with Ember prancing around the screen wearing one while an epic guitar solo by Rockwell is heard playing prominently in the background. Apparently, Ember's endorsement of the fleecy tee brought it back into style, and wearing one for herself along with other flashy Ember-inspired accessories is fellow student Paulina. She waltzes up to Sam and, quickly dismissing her look, jeers, "So when're you ever gonna drop the whole goth thing and actually dress stylish for once? Compared to you, I'm a total diva, and best of all, Ember says so! Teehee!" "Oh please, if you want my honest opinion, I technically represent Ember's so-called 'individualistic ideology' far better than you. Maybe you should stop listening to celebrities and just be yourself for once," Sam counters with a smirk. "Well… I don't want it, so ha! So long losers!" Paulina comes back with, walking briskly away from Sam and Danny. "You know, perhaps we should avoid running into any more Ember fans," Danny suggests, eyes glowing a bright neon green to further hint at what he means. He enters a back alley, enters ghost mode, and invisibly takes Sam's hand and flies high above Amity Park with her. "Wow, what a view!" he says, reverting back to being visible again once he is sure enough that nobody will probably notice them. "Yeah, heh heh," Sam nervously agrees, her face blushing since she found Danny's smile rather comforting in the bright afternoon sunlight. He stares back into her eyes and smiles warmly, and temporarily distracted by her, flies them both straight into a giant plywood image of Ember. "OW!" they shout in unison, falling flat onto the rooftop below. "That's gonna leave a few marks," Danny states, looking up at the giant picture of Ember before him. "I think we just found where Ember most likely is," Sam tells him, Danny nodding in acknowledgement of that fact. He goes intangible and takes them both through the roof and onto a small isolated balcony on the uppermost floor of the music store.

Conveniently, the balcony overlooks a wild scene below them, with young people from all over Amity Park crowding the place to its maximum capacity, including Danny's older sister Jasmine. "Oh great, even Jazz is here," Danny remarks, sighing. "I'm pretty sure she's too distracted by Ember to even notice us," Sam assures him. Seeing Ember and Rockwell on the main central raised platform across from them, Danny notes, "Speaking of distractions, I have an idea. It involves you Sam. Got a marker?" Feeling around in her skirt pocket and locating one, she responds, "As a matter of fact, I do! Hope you like red." "Oh, I do, and I'm sure Ember will agree here shortly!" he replies, eyeing another large plywood image of Ember inside the same room similar to the one on the building's roof. He flies Sam over to the image for her to climb onto while Ember steps forward, looks out at the crowd, and grins, throwing a couple handfuls of free concert tickets to the many teeming teens below. "Tell me who you love!" she shouts, receiving a ton of cheers, various voices crying "Ember!" throughout the room. "Ember!" Rockwell chants, adding even more fuel to her literal fire of passion burning within in, allowing Ember's smile to glow all the more brighter with every instance of her name being heard. Suddenly, the shriek of a loud whistle is heard emanating from the large plywood Ember nearby, with Sam having just finished drawing a silly face on the image and yelling with a goofy expression, "Talk about Ember McLame!" The crowd gasps in amazement while Ember just stares blankly at her and the hilariously vandalized image of herself for a moment, rolling her eyes and looking over at Rockwell. "Great, a critic. Perhaps they'll need a little persuasion to respect the timeless name of Ember McLaine!" she speaks to him, setting her guitar dial to a green skull symbol and turning to face Sam. Just as she is about to strike a chord and blast Sam, Danny intervenes by blasting her with a strong ghost beam for himself. "Hey! Do you take requests? How about 'Beat It?'" he sarcastically asks, hovering over the crowd. "How dare you hurt my master punk!" Rockwell barks, entering ghost mode and snarling at Danny viciously, teeth fully bared and face glowing brightly from both his neon green eyes and the electricity beginning to crackle around him. Upon seeing Rockwell's eyes glow neon green, Danny thinks, _"Wait, he's the other ghost? I see…."_ "Rocky, stand down for now. I'll deal with him myself," Ember commands him as she enters ghost mode for herself and hovers over beside him. She looks at Danny and responds to his sarcastic question, "How 'bout I just lay down a few power chords instead dipstick?" She delivers on her promise, striking a powerful series of chords that emit ectoplasmic sonic blasts, impacting Danny sharply and launching him across the open room's expanse. While he recovers and Sam works to retrieve his fallen Fenton thermos, Ember nods at Rockwell, and together, they render themselves invisible and intangible before flying through the ceiling and onto the roof, expecting Danny to give chase posthaste.

Locating Ember and Rockwell on the rooftop, Danny glares at Ember and mocks, "Ho ho, funny! Who writes your insults, the same hack who writes your songs?" "FYI, we're primarily cover artists, but of the songs we perform that are original, we write them ourselves, thank you very much!" she informs him. "You tell him Emmy!" Rockwell chimes, smirking confidently beside his master. Danny then rushes up to Ember and attempts to tackle her, but she anticipates his actions perfectly and grabs his fists with her hands, holding him off rather effortlessly, and even more so once she hears the telltale sound of her many fans chanting her name from the sidewalks surrounding the building's broad exterior. "Hear that? They're chanting my name, and the more they chant, the stronger I get! Inner strength always feeds off of unconditional confirmation, something I've been craving for far too long now, and by midnight tonight, the whole world will be joining in together harmoniously as the revolution truly begins! So now, step aside boy!" Ember boasts, overpowering Danny, shoving him aside, and blasting him with her guitar far across the roof into the giant plywood Ember, knocking it over and forcing him back to his human form. Seconds later, Sam comes running through the roof access door carrying his Fenton thermos, quickly surveying what just occurred. "Get away from him!" she shouts at Ember, staring daggers at the smiling celebrity. "Aw, teen love. They say it never lasts, but nothing distracts teenagers more than hormones, and I need to keep you busy for the next eight hours. Now that they're all chanting my name, my music _can_ affect you!" Ember explains, turning her guitar dial to the heart symbol. "How about a love song?" she rhetorically asks, striking a power chord emanating with a bright pink energy. The force from the blast sends Sam flying onto the far end of the plywood Ember and puts Danny under a love spell, making him obsessed with all things Sam. Satisfied with the current situation, Ember giggles and flies intangibly back inside the building, with Rockwell following shortly thereafter, but not before a rousing "See ya suckers!" directed at Danny and Sam.

One now infatuated Danny Fenton carelessly decides to climb across the fallen plywood Ember toward Sam, despite her constant warnings. This causes the plywood Ember to fall over the edge, though fortunately for them, they are inadvertently rescued by a pair of SWAT police helicopters. The plywood Ember falls straight down and crashes into a parked school bus below, totaling it and breaking itself in half instantly. That comes off as rather ironic in a way, since seconds before that transpired, Mr. Lancer was standing on top of said school bus with his megaphone announcing that the local authorities he had presumably contacted would be putting all AWOL students under lockdown until further notice and that their "precious Ember" was "going down." She went down all right, but not quite the same manner that he had anticipated! Surely enough, SWAT teams are deployed throughout the vicinity of downtown Amity Park as well as the immediate suburbs thereof, including one that forcefully dumps off Danny and Jazz at their home. "What's the meaning of this? You two have got a lot of explaining to do!" their father Jack demands. "You two no better than to skip out on class early, especially when you've both got an important test to take tomorrow!" their mother Maddie scolds them. "Sorry, but I'm going to Ember McLaine's concert later tonight no matter what!" Jazz assures them. "You are not leaving this house young lady! Now, both of you, to your rooms!" Maddie replies, with Jack even threatening to lock them inside of a medieval torture-esque device called the Fenton stockade, which Maddie naturally forbids him from doing. "Ugh, see, this kind of stuff is exactly what Ember represents! Down with the oppressive parental establishment!" Jazz protests, raising a fist in the air as she is shoved into her bedroom by her parents, as opposed to her brother Danny, who simply goes to his room on his own to meditate more about his beloved Sam. Eventually, both Jazz and Danny sneak out and head for Ember's concert, with Sam convincing Danny to do so and picking up Tucker (who is still trapped in that testing device back at their school) along the way.

Arriving at the downtown arena at around 11:55 PM, security looks tight, but Danny easily remedies this by using his ghost powers to sneak past the guards and grant them access to the backstage sound system. While Danny and Sam guard the doorway, Tucker examines the large audio control console and accidentally activates the stage PA system. Onstage, Ember is sound-checking her microphone while Rockwell is tuning his guitar when unexpectedly, Tucker's voice is heard over the PA system: "Man, I've gotta stop doing that." "Gr… intruders!" Ember mutters to herself, wasting no time in running backstage to confront the unwanted guests, Rockwell just behind her. Seeing Danny, Sam, and Tucker, she is furious and orders her two main security guards, Dash and Kwan (who are incidentally two fellow students of Danny and the gang), to "bag 'em and gag 'em." After Dash and Kwan easily apprehend the three teens, Ember taunts, "Later dipsticks, I've gotta go rock my world, and when I say 'my world,' I mean MY world!" "Uh, don't you mean 'our world?'" Rockwell interjects. "Oh, yeah, sorry Rocky!" she replies, giggling slightly. Back onstage, Ember and Rockwell begin their live worldwide broadcast. "Hello Amity Park! Tell me who you love!" she announces. "Ember McLaine! Ember McLaine!" they chant repeatedly, a few random canine Pokémon guests even adding "Rockwell Manectric" in there too, which he particularly appreciates. "Danny, c'mon! You've gotta snap out of this and stop Ember, now!" Sam pleads of him. "No! I'm not going anywhere without you," Danny assures her. Sighing, Sam decides there is only one last resort to take here. "Danny, if you won't listen to me like this, I'm gonna have to break your heart," she tells him, walking up to Dash and kissing him. Almost instantaneously upon seeing this, Ember's love spell is broken and Danny reverts back to his usual self, though he is now angrier than ever at what Sam had to do to him to save him from Ember's spell. "Ember!" he says, putting her right in his sights and entering ghost mode.

"Ember, you will remember! Ember, one thing remains! Whoa, Ember, you will remember! Ember, so warm and tender! You will remember my… AH!" Ember sings, being abruptly interrupted mid-sentence when Danny swoops in from behind her and gives her a solid punch in the back, sending her sailing across the arena and into a large jumbotron screen, glass shattering everywhere nearby. "HEY!" Rockwell snaps and enters ghost mode, turning his guitar's dial to a yellow lightning bolt symbol (the equivalent of multiplying his electricity's voltage fivefold) and using the instrument to channel and further enhance his natural electrical abilities, unleashing a very powerful thunderbolt into Danny. While Rockwell is charging up, Danny takes advantage of the moment and launches a strong ghost beam at the Manectric just before the electricity impacts him. The thunderbolt temporarily stuns Danny and causes him great pain while Rockwell flies backward across the stage and into a wall, his guitar still in paw but body stinging quite a bit from both the blast and the wall impact. Having recovered from Danny's hit and picked some of the glass out of her hair and bleeding face, Ember enters ghost mode (which gradually heals her wounds over time, she soon discovers) and remotely activates a special feature of her guitar, causing it to hover to her unplugged (she could still strike chords on it due to its internal backup battery) and allowing for her to literally "surf" upon it back to the stage. While the rest of the band desperately tries to keep the audience entertained however they can, Ember warns Danny, "Get this straight dipstick: I don't do duets!" Hearing this, Rockwell clears his throat and glares at Ember in her peripheral vision, causing her to add, "Well, except with Rocky here, of course!" Hands aglow, she blasts Danny with her guitar, causing him to sail across the arena and into a walkway.

 _"_ _Oh man, she's tough, and her dog's no joke either. My nerves are still stinging from that electric blast!"_ Danny thinks, coming up with a backup plan and invisibly returning to the front of the stage. Just as Ember takes a deep breath and is about to sing into the microphone, Danny swipes the microphone stand and moves over to the opposite side of the stage from her. "Nope, no more singing parts in this number!" he snidely remarks. Remembering that her guitar is indeed "virtually indestructible," as the ghost merchant described it, Ember yells out in rage and gets into a swinging contest with Danny, which she ultimately wins when she breaks the stand in half with a swift final swing of her hardy guitar. Rockwell follows that up with another equally powerful guitar-enhanced thunderbolt same as before, Danny screaming in pain at the attack and lying weakly on the stage floor, Sam watching helplessly from the sidelines in sorrow. "You can do it Danny! I believe in you!" she shouts, encouraging him with a few more kind words in his weakened state. While her adversary remains down, Ember throws down her guitar momentarily and uses her hands to unleash a swirling pink vortex upon Danny, trapping him inside it. Due to all the electricity and brightly colored ecto-blasts, Jazz speaks to a fellow onlooker, "Mindless teenage rebellion _and_ a killer light show? Is this an awesome concert or what?" She and the rest of the audience resume cheering Ember on in perfect unison as before, prompting Ember to remark, "Hear that? They're all chanting my name again! The revolution WILL be televised!" _"She's too powerful… both of them are. What can I do now? Wait… maybe it's not something I can do, but rather something someone else can!"_ Danny considers, removing the wireless microphone and chucking it in Tucker's general direction. "Tucker, take the mic and sing!" he shouts anxiously. "What? You said I suck," Tucker reminds him with an irritated facial expression. "Heh heh, I was kidding! You rock! You rock out loud!" Danny lies, motiving Tucker enough to respond, "You got that right."

Taking center stage after sliding on his knees, Tucker starts singing his version of Ember's "RemEmber" song, making her and Rockwell cringe sharply at how badly his off-key singing really is, the latter covering his ears at the shrillest notes. Their worldwide audience is no happier, with some of them even destroying their television sets outright due to such terrible singing. Everyone that was once obsessed with any and all things Ember McLaine snaps out of their trance, and no longer being under her direct control, some of them even begin leaving the arena prematurely. The swirling vortex surrounding Danny also disappears. As her plan seemingly dies before her, Ember struggles to maintain her composure, her influential power having been lost and with it the extra bolster to her ghostly ones, too. She falls to her knees in the spotlight, screaming "say my name" in a last desperate attempt to retain her influence over her fans, but they simply sit there and stare blankly at her, confused at why a singer would demand them to cheer for them artificially like that. One random audience member in the front row even shouts back, "Why would we cheer for you anyway? You're just a whiny loser!" Having ultimately lost the battle with Danny and his friends, she feels simply crushed inside at both that fact and being told she was merely a 'whiny loser,' being mentally reminded of when her parents actually used such words to describe her in years past. She falls over, lying motionless on the cold hard metal stage floor, feeling twitchy and publicly humiliated from everything that just transpired. Rockwell attempts to console her verbally and even nuzzle her face, but is greatly surprised when she appears to totally ignore him despite that. His once strong enemy now lying helpless and completely vulnerable at his feet, Danny prepares his Fenton thermos and has some choice words for Ember. "The only thing we'll be saying is 'goodbye!'" he says, pointing the thermos at the fallen rocker and activating it, sucking her into it as a final cry from her quickly fades. "Emmy, NO!" Rockwell yells, snarling viciously at Danny and lunging for the ghost boy's throat, a powerful thunder fang attack at the ready. However, Danny anticipates Rockwell's actions and goes intangible just fractions of a second before the angered Manectric would have bit him, dodging the lunge and using his thermos on Rockwell. "AH!" the Manectric howls out while he is pulled into the thermos to join his master, his guitar still lying diagonally across Ember's, forming an "X" shape in center stage. "Don't forget your precious pooch!" Danny shouts into the thermos's opening before screwing the lid back onto it tightly. With Ember and Rockwell being defeated, the rest of their band flees the scene, and Sam and Tucker congratulate Danny, though Danny admits that without his friends, especially Tucker, the outcome would have likely been much different. Satisfied with this outcome, they all head home for the evening, and the next day, everyone except Tucker miserably fails the standardized test at school, with Tucker getting a solid 100% from all his forced digital studying.

Having both been deposited into a ghost named Klemper's sector of the Ghost Zone by Danny, Ember and Rockwell wander aimlessly for a time discussing everything that had just happened the previous night, occasionally interrupted by Klemper shouting "Ember! Ember!" over and over. "Ugh, stop saying my name!" Ember yells at him, temporarily disheartening the annoying ghost long enough for her and Rockwell to focus on their conversation. "That Danny Phantom kid's no joke, that's for sure. I'm honestly shocked at how clever and persistent he was, and that says something since I'm an electric-type!" Rockwell exclaims candidly as he trots beside Ember. "Pf, he's nothing but a lucky cheap shot, that's all! Did you see that thermos thingy of his? That's a serious advantage for him alone right there. I mean, it could theoretically end a fight in a single move if he was able to get away with using it right," she remarks, shivering from the cold of Klemper's realm. "That's a good point. Besides that, he's also a pretty decent fighter, although he certainly seems far less experienced overall than us. I wonder how long he's actually had his powers for…," Rockwell conjectures. "Probably not very long, considering. What I'd really like to know, though, is why our boss never once warned us or even hinted at the existence of Danny Phantom and the distinct threat he posed to our plans. I mean, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt this time, but I swear, if that kid interferes again, I'm really gonna unload on the guy myself!" she vows. "Rockwell! Rockwell!" Klemper suddenly begins cheering. "Great, now you're chanting my name too? That's it punk, you're done!" Rockwell growls, turning to face Klemper. "Yeah, we've had enough of pesky dipsticks like you screwing around with us! Now, BEGONE!" Ember shouts angrily as she and Rockwell enter ghost mode and unleash their strongest ghost beams into Klemper, propelling him deep into the Ghost Zone in the opposite direction. "Let's beat this joint. The cold's really getting to my nose and ears right about now," Rockwell suggests, he and Ember flying over to their home in the Ghost Zone and relaxing awhile there, discussing everything they had learned from their bitter experience with failure, including Rockwell's suspicions about their plan all along.

The next day, Ember and Rockwell discover with much relief that their guitars and the rest of their concert equipment was salvaged from the arena by some of their recording staff, although the microphone stand would of course have to be replaced. The payment for the shattered jumbotron screen would come out of the expenses of Sinister Records, as well as any other damages to their late night venue caused by the battle between the two artists and Danny Phantom. "This will of course come out of your paychecks. I'm sure you can understand why I must do that from a business perspective. After all, it was you two that decided to pick a fight at the wrong time and place," Vlad Masters informs them. "Hey, we didn't even start the freaking fight and we get punished for it? What kind of bull is that?" Ember complains to her boss. "She has a point, you know. It's not like we even knew to expect that bratty interloper's intervention anyway," Rockwell defends his master's standpoint. "Oh please Emily, hush! Look, I completely understand that young Daniel's interference in your affairs was certainly an unfortunate predicament for you two to find yourselves in, but you two are also both responsible adults of your respective species, and as such, I'd naturally expect you to accept the consequences of your actions, favorable or otherwise! _Capisce_?" Masters asks them sternly. Growling under her breath, Ember nods reluctantly, but warns him, "All right, but next time, _don't_ call me that word and _don't_ tell me to hush, ugh!" As she stomps out of the room offended, Rockwell approaches Masters and tells him, "I don't know who you think you are pal, but don't dare mess with the mighty Ember McLaine if you know what's good for you!" Once Rockwell has left his office, Masters simply chuckles darkly to himself and says in a low voice with his hands and eyes briefly aglow with blazing reddish ghost energy, "Oh I know exactly who I am Rockwell boy: the truly mighty Vlad Plasmius, ha ha ha!"

The next week, Ember privately celebrates her twenty-fourth birthday with Rockwell, going to an exquisite downtown steakhouse for dinner and receiving a special 24k gold and silver necklace from Rockwell (this was his way of saying "thanks" for the special necklace she gave him for his tenth birthday, which consisted of five sapphires in the shape of a paw print situated on a circular background of solid 24k white gold). The necklace is shaped like a golden heart, with a silver music note inside it. She is greatly pleased by the gift, and hugs Rockwell after receiving it from him during their meal together. "See, the heart represents your heart of gold, while the sweet sixteenth note of silver represents music, with both coming together to ultimately symbolize the music of your heart! You know, just like the namesake of that awesome duet we often cover at most every concert now," he describes to her, smiling widely with a steadily wagging tail. "Aw, it's perfect! Thank you so much Rocky! I'll never forget this, ever!" she tells him, a pair of small joyous tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Contrary to popular opinion, these two definitely had hearts, especially for one another. It was just that they had both lived very complicated lives together and were not exactly prepared to talk about that to just anybody, especially those they deemed most annoying (namely their parents, their boss, and rival ghosts like Danny Phantom, for instance). Only time would tell if they would ever alter this personal policy, but until then, it would remain secret between each other alone.

Early the following month, Ember and Rockwell are roaming the Ghost Zone, partly out of curiosity and partly out of boredom, when they encounter a younger ghost by the name of Youngblood. He is apparently frustrated with his parents too, and escapes to the Ghost Zone whenever he can to avoid them (and occasionally the punishments that they would dish out). "Tell me about it. Why do parents have to suck so much sometimes?" Ember asks him. "I dunno. Maybe they just care too much?" Youngblood suggests. "Nah, I'd say it's more that they don't care enough. How else could they be so abusive and borderline hateful at times?" she states. "I'm not totally sure myself, but if I had to guess, I'd say they probably have good intentions for most of what they do generally, but often fail to understand their children well enough to avoid emotionally hurting them," Rockwell postulates. A moment of silence occurs before Ember eventually speaks up. "You know Youngblood, I've been thinking. I'm still angry by my last plan's miserable failure, so to help make up for it, why not go after the adults themselves directly rather than through their kids? I know what kind of music most of them often like these days," she explains. "Ooh, that sounds fun, heh heh! I know, I'll get together a crew and we can host a literal pirate radio station together! Does that sound cool or what?" Youngblood boasts. "You know what? It sounds fantastic, ha ha ha!" she agrees as she shares a quick chuckle with him and Rockwell, although Rockwell's laughter sounds more on the side of nervousness than of humor. Wasting no time at all, they each begin the appropriate preparations for their newest plot.

One of these preparations is Ember's acquirement of a new electric guitar from the same ghost merchant she originally received her and Rockwell's guitars from. This guitar looked ostensibly identical to her main one, but it was made of cheaper materials and thus less costly for her to purchase. She offered to get one for Rockwell too, but he declined the offer humbly, citing it as being "unnecessary" for him, at least at this point. The purpose of this expendable guitar was to act as a failsafe in case another, most likely Danny Phantom or a similar rival ghost, were to ever successfully steal her guitar from her during a fight and attempt to use it against her, Rockwell, or another close ally of theirs. Once Youngblood's crew and ship were assembled and fully stocked with all the necessary supplies, they headed out to cause more music-infused chaos. Using the Fenton's Ghost Zone portal as an easy way back to the material world, they sail on Youngblood's ghostly pirate ship and swipe the Fenton's ghost shield from right under Danny Phantom's nose. "Great, some snot-nosed kid just stole my parents' ghost shield, and all the local radio stations play nothing but that lame Vapor Drone song. Could this night possibly get any worse?" Danny mutters to Sam and Tucker just as his father yells for him to go to bed soon. "I guess it can," Sam says, sighing knowing that it means she and Tucker will have to head home too.

Next day at school, that same odd Vapor Drone track can be heard playing all throughout the halls, even over the intercom at one point. All around Amity Park, the music can be heard loud and clear, with most every adult middle-aged and older easily falling prey to the enchanting melody (which is actually just a toned down instrumental remix of Ember's "RemEmber" single, though nobody initially suspects this due to how different it sounds from the original). Their plan very much in motion, Youngblood has his crew steal a bunch of gym equipment from Casper High and many other local schools and gymnasiums, with the pirate ship itself disguised as a regular-looking cruise ship docked in Amity Harbor and adults coming onboard in droves to "get away" from their families and listen to Vapor Drone indefinitely. As the adults come in by the dozens, Ember notices her parents are not among them. _"How typical. Of course they're not here! They consider all public radio music to be 'evil,' even the contemporary Christian music stations,"_ she thinks, rolling her eyes at the very thought of her parents' personal musical ignorance. Shortly thereafter, Youngblood reports that their cover has been blown by a rival radio station jamming their signal. "They've taken the battle to the airwaves, those dirty land-dwelling scoundrels! Permission to retaliate Captain!" he requests from Ember. "Permission granted. Let's find 'em and hit 'em fast and hard! Nobody interferes with my plans and gets away with it!" she declares, returning to the upper decks to personally oversee this task.

As it turns out, the radio frequency is emanating from none other than Danny Fenton's home, via the special operations center on the roof. Sam figures out that the name of the cruise line, "M. Bersback," is an obvious allusion to Ember's return, and surely enough, Danny sees her beside Rockwell onboard the pirate ship when it returns to take down their radio station. "That's right, Ember's back, and ready to rock!" Ember announces, sending a powerful guitar blast toward Danny and his friends. When he attempts to retaliate, they activate their onboard ghost shield and easily repel him. "Wasting your time wannabe," she advises him, smirking smugly when he appears to retreat before coming back at them a third time. "What, is the music career going so horribly that you've had to pick up babysitting jobs on the side?" Danny insults her when Youngblood pops up beside her to oversee their siege, also noticing the new necklace worn around her neck. "I guess you could say me and him share the same opinion of adults," she explains, chiming in together with Youngblood: "Hate 'em!" Rockwell yips in agreement with them, too. "Specifically the over thirties, since middle-age is usually when most adults really start being uncool and demanding. I should know…," Ember admits, keeping her parents in mind and being in her mid-twenties herself (not that she had any intentions of being boring and overly authoritative when she eventually became that age). She then blasts Danny away with her guitar again, and after seeing him attempt yet another counterattack, she faces Youngblood and the rest of the crew.

"Great, looks like that dirty dipstick's back for more. All hands, fire at will!" she orders. Two barrages of cannonballs follow, most of them impacting the ops center directly, but barely putting a dent in the dense metal exterior of the structure. "Gr… the target's impenetrable to a direct assault?! Well then, looks like we'll have to resort to Plan B if we can't lure adults to us with my music. Boys, time to steal people the old-fashioned way, just like real pirates once did: by force! And I know the perfect couple to abduct first, heh!" she exclaims, smirking. The couple in question was her own middle-aged parents, and they had the dishonor of being the ghostly crew's first abduction victims. Once they are onboard the ship, they are forced at sword point to run on treadmills to help power the ship's engine, since interestingly enough, the music itself seems to have no effect on ones so close-minded to modern music. "Emily! What's the meaning of all this?! I demand an explanation, NOW!" David shouts in disgust. "Perhaps I would actually tell you if you didn't ruin my childhood and continue to call me by that stupid name!" she argues, her eyes glowing green with ghostly fury upon hearing Youngblood's laughing at her real name. "If you can't respect me for who I am, who I choose to be, what I've become… then why should I respect you back, huh? Tell me!" she challenges them, staring the sharpest of daggers at them, eyes still aglow. "You want respect looking and acting like that? Like some kind of vile ghost creature? Well, keep trying, because you'll never have our respect the way you are! If you would just listen to us for once instead of being so obstinately inclined to do whatever you want all the time, none of this mess would probably even be happening right now!" David responds, his wife's face looking deeply disheartened. "Why you… I, AH! Look, just remember that listening goes _both_ ways!" she tells them, stomping back to the upper decks clearly offended and embarrassed by her parents' tenaciously maintaining their viewpoint. While all that was occurring, a kidnapped Tucker (disguised as an elderly man) takes special notice of the interesting exchange between Ember and her parents. _"Whoa, those are her parents?! So they're the reason she hates adults so much… I think I just learned something really important for Danny to keep in mind for later,"_ Tucker wonders, conversing with Ember's parents for some time when he could and discovering a wealth of background details on her upbringing. He also starts the ghost shield's deactivation sequence while Ember and the crew are distracted with Danny.

Having successfully convinced the rest of his fellow students to join him, Danny and them work together to board Ember and Youngblood's ship, fighting alongside some that usually oppose him (such as rival school bully Dash and flirtatious tease Paulina) as his human self, the ghost shield still remaining active at the time. Most of the crew having been defeated, Ember takes her place at the helm of the ship and strikes a powerful chord at Danny and the other kids, sending them all tumbling back in a large heap on deck. "The only one rocking this boat is me!" she assures them, with Rockwell adding "And me!" and Youngblood adding "And m… hey, no fair! I don't have a cool guitar!" Frustrated by that fact, Youngblood hovers up to Danny, grabs him by the hook, and throws him onto the main plank of the ship. "Argh, time to walk the plank shark bait!" he orders him, smirking with Ember and Rockwell behind him on either side. _"Oh great… here goes nothing!"_ Danny muses, deliberately falling off the ship toward the ground below. Several seconds pass, but no sound of Danny's impacting the ground below is heard. "Hey, where's the splat?" Ember questions, looking over the edge and seeing no trace of Danny anywhere. The ghost shield now inactive, Danny Fenton is nowhere to be seen, but Danny Phantom instead appears before them, smirking. "Miss me already?" he says. "Gr… you'll pay for interfering with our plans again!" Rockwell snarls, preparing to zap Danny in retaliation. Danny predicts that and renders himself intangible milliseconds before the electricity surges through him, dodging the attack and flying toward Rockwell, knocking him and his guitar aside for now. "Rockwell! Take this!" Ember angrily shouts, sending a couple strong energy blasts from her guitar at Danny. Danny strafe-dodges both blasts and uppercuts Ember across the ship and into a still recovering Rockwell, her guitar falling right in front of Danny. Reacting quickly to the situation presenting itself so clearly before him, he swipes up the guitar for himself and tries to figure out how to use it properly. Youngblood intervenes, though, and forces him to use it as a blunt improvised weapon rather than the usual way, culminating in Youngblood slicing the guitar in half with his sword and Ember firing some ecto-blasts from her hands at Danny, a few which are deflected by him via the guitar's upper half, a couple which miss him entirely and ignite the ship's primary sail, and one which nails Danny squarely in the face, knocking him back a ways and stunning him for a moment. "Oh great… the ship's on fire now. That's no good. Ah well, Rockwell, let's beat this joint! Sorry kid, catch you on my comeback tour, heh heh ha!" Ember tells Rockwell and Youngblood, respectively. "Hey, what?!" a confused Youngblood replies, receiving a flick in the face by Rockwell's tail as he and his master flee the scene together. With Youngblood now outmatched by a highly motivated Danny with Ember and Rockwell out of the picture, the spell cast over most of the onboard adults is broken and the ship begins falling out of the sky toward the harbor. Danny and the rest of the adults and kids onboard all huddle around him so he can intangibly carry them back down to the surface safely, while Tucker reactivates the ship's ghost shield remotely with his handy-dandy PDA, trapping Youngblood and his pet ghost parrot underwater for some time.

Back at their real world estate the following day, Ember and Rockwell evaluate their latest exploit, knowing that it failed yet again thanks to Danny Phantom, though both sides had extra assistance for their respective causes. "I'm just so sick of him Rockwell! Every single time we have a good plan, he always finds a way to stop it!" Ember gripes, slamming her fists onto a table. "Perhaps we should consider our motives more thoroughly from now on? I mean, this kid only seems to intervene to halt a plan he perceives to be evil or despicable in some way, right? Could it be that we're somehow out of line and he's just trying to do the right thing? As the saying goes, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!'" Rockwell suggests, strumming a few random chords on his guitar. "Rocky, have you been hearing yourself lately? JOIN Danny Phantom?! We'd be surrendering to his causes and purposes by doing so, admitting we're wrong and he's right! Is _that_ what you're proposing, 'cause if so, I want no part of it! Nuh-uh, not this girl!" she objects sternly, crossing her arms and facing away from Rockwell's field of vision. He sighs, thinking for a moment before riffing the chorus of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated," directing the chorus lyrics at Ember in this moment. Resisting the urge to come back with a song of her own to counter his, she submits to the point he is trying to make and sighs deeply, turning to face him. "Hey, I'm sorry for ignoring you Rocky. You know you're the last person I'd ever want to do that to. It's just that sometimes, as much as I really hate to admit it… you're right. We should probably reconsider our motives for any more future ploys of ours before we actually attempt them, just to make sure we're on the right side of justice. That way, we can look good to others and avoid having to deal with that annoying dipstick at the same time! It's win-win, really," she confesses, smiling at her beloved pet and moving over to stroke him gently on the head and back. "Thanks for coming around Em. You know, just saying, but you should probably listen to me more often," he remarks slyly, nudging her side, with her reciprocating with a playful nudge and smirk all her own. With their new vision for life in mind, they spend the rest of the day together playing around and enjoying one another's presence, rekindling old feelings between each other not felt by them since their younger days of yesteryear.

Later that same week, Danny, Sam, and Tucker discuss the juicy information Tucker learned about Ember from meeting her parents onboard the pirate ship. "So, if what you're saying is true… then it sounds like Vlad and I aren't the only two half-ghosts in existence. That includes her dog Rockwell, too. Now I really wonder how many more of us there are out there," Danny says. "Well, at least this clearly explains why she hates older adults so much. Honestly, I don't completely blame her for being a rebel when she was younger, to a point. What she's done lately is going way too far, though. It's so bad, it's almost beyond immature," Sam notes. "Of course, none of us have parents that're anywhere close to as overbearing as hers are. Not even you Sam," Tucker states. "Agreed Tuck. I think we should do a little more research into our 'favorite' pop princess and her little dog too," Danny proposes partly sarcastically, getting out his laptop and looking up public online information about Ember and Rockwell. "Hmm… apparently, she was born on October 25, 1980, and her full real name is Emily Ann McLain, according to Wikipedia. In an early interview, she revealed that her nickname _Ember_ came from her self-diagnosed pyromania as a child, with one of her then friends pointing out that her name _Emily_ sounded really close to the word _ember_ , and started calling her that for short. She eventually adopted the nickname for herself permanently, claiming that she hates her real name, since it reminds her of her parents. That's also why she added an _e_ to her surname when she became a celebrity," Danny reads aloud. "Figures she's an '80s kid, considering the majority of the music she and Rockwell perform consists of '80s song covers," Sam exclaims. After doing some more research, Danny discovers that Rockwell was a gift for her eleventh birthday, that his full name is Rockwell Volt Manectric, that he was named after the '80s one hit wonder artist Rockwell, that his species is an electric-type canine Pokémon, and that he and Ember are expert world-class Pokémon trainers. "As for their record company, Sinister Records, it was initially founded in 2000 by record executive and billionaire entrepreneur… Vlad Masters! Seriously?! It figures Vlad's involved in this, but still, does this guy's influence know no bounds?" Danny reveals in a surprised tone of voice. "Well, I think we now have more than enough intel on their origins to be ready for Ember and Rockwell next time we encounter them, wouldn't you say guys?" Tucker asks them. "Definitely, but keep in mind that there's likely an emotionally wounded girl somewhere behind that cold rocker façade she portrays so well. If there's any chance of ever calling a truce with her and Rockwell, it's through that," Sam reminds Danny, smiling slightly. "Yeah, right. We'll see," Danny responds, chuckling a bit at the thought of actually reconciling with two of his most persistent, annoying, and intimidating adversaries.

Surely enough, the opportunity for Danny and friends to agree to a truce with Ember and Rockwell would come the very next weekend. Danny's ghost sense alerts him to two nearby ghosts (which he now naturally expects to mean Ember and Rockwell are nearby rather than two other ghosts, since they are virtually always seen together) somewhere in or around the local Material Grill restaurant on '80s night. They have just finished their weekly gig there and are about to head home for the evening when Danny confronts them backstage. Ember and Rockwell also sense his presence right before he shows up, already being in ghost mode by the time he does. "Great, what do _you_ want dipstick?" Ember inquires impatiently. "That's a good question, but hey, I'm not a dipstick!" Danny complains defensively for himself. "Have you ever interfered with one of our plans before?" she asks him. "Well, yes, but that's because those plans were evil!" he asserts. "Then you're a dipstick. By confirming that fact, you're essentially saying the same thing about yourself to me," she tells him, smirking. "Fine, whatever! I'm not here to argue or fight. I'm just trying to make a deal with you two," he explains, landing on the floor in front of them and smiling slightly. "A deal, you say? And what exactly would this deal entail?" Rockwell questions him, cocking his head a bit in curiosity. "It's simple: you two and I will have an indefinite truce with each other unless one of us is clearly doing something wrong and needs to be stopped," Danny tells them. "Ha, you've got to be kidding me! You and us allies? Not a chance!" she ensures him. "I'm not joking here people, and it'd be much more like frenemies than allies, all things considered," Danny assures them. "Ember, just listen to him for once! This is your chance to improve your relationship with another person. We already know enough about you to be comfortable making this decision," Sam interjects on Danny's behalf. "Oh really? How much do you know about me exactly, hmm?" Ember tests them. "We know a lot of stuff. Like how you grew up in 1980s Amity Park, how you're likely half-ghost since you have biological parents, how your real name's actually Emily…," Sam acknowledges before being loudly interrupted by an enraged Ember.

"Shut your mouth NOW little miss goth punk!" Ember yells at Sam immediately upon hearing her real name uttered by one of her foes, eyes glowing brightly in anger. She impulsively fires off a powerful pair of ghost beams from her eyes at Sam, knocking her straight against a wall in pain, her clothes singed by the unexpected blast while Tucker runs over to her to assess her wounds. "Whoa, time out!" Danny shouts, hands aglow and ready to attack at will. "Are you gonna accept the truce or not?" he demands. "I think you already know my answer dipstick. Why don't you and your cute dippy girlfriend go run off somewhere to, oh, make out or something? There's a dumpster around back if you're interested," Ember replies, grinning darkly at Danny and chuckling with Rockwell at her previous comment. "Why you… AH!" Danny cries out, as seeing Sam still fairly weak from the ecto-blast and Ember and Rockwell merely laughing it off pushes him over the edge, causing him to lash out with a pair of powerful ecto-beams of his own, one for each rocker mocker. They both wince in pain at the attacks, Rockwell even yelping slightly. Danny then whips out his Fenton thermos and wastes no time sucking both Ember and Rockwell into it one after the other. "Hey, let us out you big dope!" Rockwell protests from within the thermos's tight confines. "It's _dipstick_ Rocky. _Dipstick_. Not dope, ugh," Ember corrects him, rolling her eyes and sighing deeply. "Same difference as far as I'm concerned," he responds, growling at Danny. "Sorry jerks, but you'd better think twice before attacking my girl… I mean, best friend like that," Danny warns them, rattling the thermos a bit with his hand to make further discomfort for the two imprisoned ghost hybrids. Later that night, he dumps them both off back into the Ghost Zone and heads off to bed.

Come morning the day after, everything seems to be going well for Danny and friends until Dash decides to bully him again like usual. By afternoon rolls around, though, something strange is up, since Danny discovers Vlad is somehow at his house. As it turns out, the Ghost King, Pariah Dark, has been unintentionally released from his eternal slumber, destroying the majority of ghost residences in the Ghost Zone (including Ember and Rockwell's) and extending his literal reign of terror to Amity Park itself. With the help of many normally rival ghosts, which even included Ember and Rockwell, Danny was successfully able to force King Pariah back into his ancient coffin to rest indefinitely once more, saving the world from his planned total domination. Afterwards, he visits Ember and Rockwell at their earthly home and thanks them sincerely for their part in helping him fight the Ghost King. "You were fantastic guys! Thanks," Danny tells them with a warm smile. "You know, you're not so bad yourself Phantom. Consider this a new leaf overturned for each of us here today," a particularly elated Ember informs him, smiling back herself. "I'm just glad to know that everything's all right and back to normal. Let me be the first to also say that I'm especially excited for any future prospects of working together with you Phantom boy, should the opportunity ever present itself again," Rockwell admits, with Ember actually approving what he said regarding Danny with a simple nod. "Ha ha, you bet! Take care guys!" Danny bids them farewell with, flying away feeling happy knowing that even some of his worst enemies are starting to warm up to him, particularly when it matters most with the entire world at stake. Ember and Rockwell also have their Ghost Zone home restored even better than before, with several additional upgrades made to its overall design at their discretion (apparently, free Ghost Zone home insurance is available for all prominent ghosts).

In the last few weeks of the year, Danny goes ahead (and back again) in time to defeat his evil future self; while he is ultimately successful in doing so, along the way, he discovers how grim a future he originally had in store for himself had he not altered it otherwise. This included dismal fates for his family, friends, teacher, and even many of the rival ghosts he normally fought, including Ember, who lost both the ability to sing and Rockwell himself thanks to the despicable things Dark Danny Phantom had done to her. He had originally planned to eliminate Ember herself for all the trouble she had caused him in the past, but Rockwell laid down his life to preserve hers from his wrath. Seeing how broken she was without Rockwell, Dark Danny kept her alive to suffer and merely damaged her vocal cords instead, so she would not even have the gift of song to mourn about it, either. Now truly alone inside, she had literally just stopped caring about life, withdrew from society, and let herself go to the point where she was merely waiting to die. Seeing that alone made the younger Danny feel absolutely terrible inside, and knowing what was initially destined for his own loved ones, he was that much more empowered to defeat his evil future self. Having learned a valuable lesson about second chances for both himself and others from all that, he talked it over with Sam and Tucker after describing to them exactly what he had witnessed and determined the best course of action was to at least attempt to reconcile with as many of his past opponents as possible, starting with Ember and Rockwell first and foremost, but not until after the holidays were over, since most people were very busy that time of year. Besides, that would be a perfect New Year's resolution for him, and so it was that Danny Phantom decided to kick off 2005 bright and well with the dual power of forgiveness and peace.

During Christmastime, Danny provokes the wrath of a previously fairly obscure ghost called the Ghostwriter by inadvertently destroying his latest Christmas book. Taking advantage of Danny's natural abhorrence for the holiday (prompted primarily by his parents rather immaturely arguing over the possibility of Santa's existence), the Ghostwriter manipulates Danny via a special ghost computer of his, with Danny being forced to say and do everything the Ghostwriter types into his fancy machine. After causing Danny to seemingly ruin Christmas for all of Amity Park, he takes the ghost boy to the Ghost Zone to cause chaos there. Though the annual Christmas ghost truce is still in effect (with Ember even offering Danny some Christmas goose and Rockwell giving him a nice wet lick on the face in holiday joy), the Ghostwriter does all he can to try to foil the ectoplasmic armistice. Even in spite of that, Danny is somehow able to convince his ghostly counterparts to take on the Ghostwriter. The Ghostwriter's power at first proves too strong for them to handle, with each ghost attacking one another without end. At one point, Skulker blasts Ember with one of his ecto-weapons, which though he normally would never have done such a thing, especially on Christmas, he does manage to tell her, "Consider that as payback for before girl!" To that, Ember simply rolls her eyes and shrugs off the hit quickly, going after Skulker in retaliation, with Rockwell also returning the favor on his own time. Youngblood also tries to attack Ember out of retribution for her abandoning him before, though Rockwell prevents that from happening by paralyzing Youngblood with a thunder wave. Though it is a constant struggle, they are eventually able to take down the Ghostwriter, or so they thought, as his influence still continues despite their destroying his computer and having him arrested and sent to Walker's ghost prison. However, that influence ends for good when the Ghostwriter makes the mistake of ending a line of his rhyming verse with the word _orange_ , since there is no natural rhyme for the word in the English language. With the Ghostwriter now truly defeated, everyone is able to restore their Christmas joy and Danny Phantom is able to save Christmas for Amity Park and undo what he had previously been forced to commit.

Ember and Rockwell decided to finish celebrating Christmas with their fellow ghosts in the Ghost Zone before returning to their earthly home to celebrate alone with each other there. They played Christmas songs together using their awesome indoor surround sound system, attracting many fans of theirs outside their living room windows. At Rockwell's request, they opened the windows and let the sound of the holiday season flow from their voices and guitar strings into the outside world for all within earshot to enjoy, including their guitar-based covers of such modern Christmas classics as Michael W. Smith's "Gloria" and Amy Grant's "Grown Up Christmas List," among others. They had both always loved Christmas since they were little, since that was the time of year that even Ember's parents would actually be nice to them and others when they normally might not have been otherwise. In their hearts, it was a truly sacred holiday in every sense, with them personally vowing to always honor it however they can every year no matter what the circumstances as best they possibly could, trying hard to inspire others to feel the same way, too. Once midnight came, they bid everyone goodnight and farewell outside their home and closed up shop for the night, Ember and Rockwell having a private late-night conversation together in front of the fireplace. "You know Rocky, all that stuff yesterday with the Ghostwriter got me to thinking… it sucks to have someone control you and violate your free will like that. Now I see how my fans likely felt when I tried to control them the way I did that one time. I feel so bad about it now…," she confesses, frowning at Rockwell. "Hey, it's all good now. Never forget that no matter how bad you've been in life, God's always willing to forgive you if you repent of your sins to Him," he reminds her, nuzzling her gently. "Yeah, I know, and I do. It's just that I still feel guilty about it even now. Is that normal?" she expresses. "I'd imagine so, yes, especially considering the scale of some of what you've done wrong before. I was a part of that too, you know, even though you technically masterminded it, but by association and my part in it all, I've certainly repented of that long ago, almost immediately after the plan fell apart. That includes our most recent scheme with Youngblood," he admits, sighing remembering how foolish that particular plan really was in retrospect. "Humph, I'm still getting myself to that point about that one. If anything, I'm sorry for getting other people's parents and such involved when I should've focused solely on my own, if anything," she says, shaking her head slightly even mentioning her parents like she did. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll come around in time. I believe in you, and more importantly, I believe in God to help you with that in due time. I love ya Emmy Ann!" he tells her with a big smile, playfully pouncing onto her and licking her face a bit with a wagging tail. "Aw, I love you too boy! There's nobody else in the whole wide world I'd rather spend my Christmas evening with than you, that's for sure!" she remarks, giving the loyal loving canine a hug and a kiss on the muzzle. They then say their prayers together shortly thereafter and go to sleep, dreaming of what wonderful things may come to them in the near future.

A week later, on the second day of 2005, Danny Phantom decides to pay Ember and Rockwell a special little visit to hopefully settle a decent truce with them indefinitely. Sam and Tucker also tag along as usual, though they are extra careful this time, so as to not get blasted like Sam was previously. Ringing the doorbell like a proper ghost boy would, he is greeted by a somewhat surprised Ember in plainclothes, a similarly dressed Rockwell following behind her shortly afterwards. "Oh hi, heh heh! It's kinda funny, I've never seen you two in anything but your rock outfits before," Danny admits, chuckling. "Hey, as cool as it is, there's still more to life than rock music, if you can believe that," Ember replies with a smirk. "So, what's up? Is there a problem?" she asks him, placing her hands on her hips. "No, not at all. I just wanted to try to form a truce with you again. It's part of my New Year's resolutions to do so, and you're the first ghost rival I'm attempting this with. My friends and I have reviewed certain key details about you two, and overall, you seem like the two most promising candidates for this. So, truce?" he explains, extending his right hand toward her. Looking at Rockwell, who nods in approval back at her, Ember shakes Danny's hand and smiles. "No permanent promises, but yes, we agree to this. You and us will do our best to stay out of each other's way unless we're acting on friendly terms," she says. "Really?! Sweet! What a great way to start the new year, right guys?" Danny ecstatically exclaims, looking back at his two friends. "Totally dude! Nice job! Now we've got one less pair of ghosts to worry about. I hope," Tucker states. Sam smiles slightly and tells Danny, "I'm not completely convinced at this just yet considering what happened last time we tried doing this, but I'll likely warm up to it over time. Congrats!" "Uh, sorry 'bout last time… I got too carried away in the moment," Ember acknowledges to Sam. "Hey, it's no problem now, I can assure you. Oh, nice necklace by the way!" Sam responds. "Thanks! Rocky got it for me," Ember remarks, Rockwell grinning contentedly beside her. As Sam and Tucker start to walk away, Danny lags behind for a moment to say, "FYI, I'd be especially careful with that so-called boss of yours. Let's just say that he's not everything he seems to be…." "Believe me, we've had our doubts for a good long while now. The first time we met him, he seemed extremely shady, and whenever he enters the room with us, our ghost senses alert us," Ember reveals, with Rockwell vowing to uncover their boss's secret in due time by any means necessary. Both parties then go their separate ways.

Hiding in a concealed location in a nearby tree, a small insectoid robot viewed and heard everything that just transpired between Ember, Rockwell, Danny, and his friends. Watching remotely from his secret laboratory via the robot's integral camera, Vlad Masters snickers to himself smugly at what he had just witnessed. "So close to slipping up on your promise to me there, weren't you young Daniel? I'd be more careful than that if I were you, or I might just slip up on mine! As for Emily and the mutt, I might have to be extra cautious around them henceforth. Not that I'm afraid of them finding anything out, but as far as I know, the general public isn't fully aware that she and her pooch are half-ghosts either, so I could always blackmail them with that the same way I have with Daniel. Oh Maddie, isn't this rich?" he monologues before reaching out to stroke his pet cat. "Though my enemies may gather 'round me, I shall fear no rival, for thou art Vlad Plasmius, mwah ha ha ha!" he speaks to himself in a large vanity mirror, transforming into his ghostly alter ego and laughing maniacally for some time after that.

On Valentine's Day that February, Ember and Rockwell were getting ready to attend a special evening dinner downtown together when someone knocks loudly on the front door. Rockwell goes to stealthily check who it is and notices it is none other than Skulker, carrying a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a small bouquet of flowers. _"Great, this guy again. Ember's not gonna be too happy about this,"_ Rockwell thinks to himself, returning to Ember and notifying her of their unwelcome guest's presence. "Aw crap, seriously Rocky? Don't worry, I'll deal with him myself," she informs him, walking across the house and answering the door intentionally with only half her makeup applied. "Hello Ember! Gee, you look, er… flattering tonight, heh!" Skulker greets her, smiling awkwardly. "You really think so? I'm not even fully ready yet, you know, and frankly, I look pretty terrible right now until I'm finished," Ember states humiliatingly. "I was wondering if you wanted to, uh, you know, oh what is it called again… hang out for a while?" he asks. "I know what you're up to. You wanna playdate again after I already rejected you before, don't you? Well sorry buster, but this girl's now and forever not interested!" she lays down the law with him, raising an eyebrow. "B… but… I even brought you… bah, what's the use? Sorry I was ever nice to you to begin with, UGH!" he complains, his tone noticeably irritated. Crushing the floral bouquet in one hand and the chocolate box in the other, he throws them both on the doorstep and flies away, shouting "EMBER MCLAINE IS A FOOOOOOL!" as he does so. Many neighbors and others outside hear this and all look at Ember in her embarrassing partially made-up state, with some of the more immature ones laughing and pointing at her. To this, she blushes heavily and immediately slams the door shut, ashamed and angered greatly inside by what just happened. While the rest of the evening proves to be a good one for her and Rockwell, deep inside her damaged psyche, she cannot help but brew with hatred and vengeance. Not just for Skulker, but for her father and Jonathan too, since he let her down greatly when he let her father intimidate him away from her all those years ago. There was one main thing in common with all three of them: they were all male. Perhaps it was something to do with that common trait that was the cause of their behavior toward her before? She was not fully sure, but as far as she was concerned, it was high time they all paid – them, and anyone else like them.

One day that upcoming spring, Ember decides to pay a solo visit to the Ghost Zone without Rockwell's knowledge – a first for her. There, she locates and meets up with two fellow spectral females: Penelope Spectra and Kitty. They explain to her how they are absolutely disgusted with how their men have been acting lately, with Ember sharing her sympathies with them from Skulker's continued attempts to woo her, although she does keep the estranged relationships with her father and Jonathan from them. Once Kitty shows off her recently discovered ability – a spell that makes anyone male disappear regardless of species or spectral signature – on Spectra's short-statured husband Bertrand, Kitty suggests heading to Amity Park together and seeking revenge on her boyfriend, Johnny 13, as well as Skulker should they encounter him too. Ember briefly returns home, picks up Rockwell, and explains their plans to him, which he reluctantly goes along with for the time being.

In the spacious downtown city park, Johnny 13 is caught flirting with human girls by Kitty, Spectra, Ember, and Rockwell. "Johnny! How _dare_ you, you cheating jerk!" Kitty yells at him, eyes ablaze a fiery red. "Oh come on baby! I was just, uh… inspecting the local female population, that's all! Don't worry though, 'cause I'll always have eyes only for you," Johnny exclaims nervously. "As if! Just look at how you were looking at that girl! UGH!" Kitty retorts. "Whoa, no way! Look everyone, it's Ember McLaine!" Dash announces from behind Ember and Rockwell, garnering their attention instantaneously. "Yeah, and Rockwell's with her too! You guys ROCK, woohoo!" an equally elated Kwan shouts. "Great, fanboys. They never cease to amaze me with their sheer undying stupidity," Ember mutters under her breath, proving her point further when Dash and Kwan start a brawl between each other and various other males as well all because Kwan accidentally revealed Dash's secret affinity for boy bands publicly. "See, this is why we should just get rid of all men everywhere around here! They just cause us trouble, right girls?" Spectra states as Ember and Kitty both nod in simultaneous agreement. "If only there were a way to… _amplify_ that spell of yours. That's it! Kitty, conjure one of those spells for me. I've got a great plan! Rocky, you'd best protect yourself somehow. Covering your ears would probably be best," Ember alerts them respectively. "I've got an even better idea!" Rockwell says, using his own guitar to create a temporary soundproof ghost barrier around him. "All right, now!" Ember orders, with Kitty performing her spell and Ember unleashing a strong power chord into the spell, emitting it far across the city in all directions before fading away just shy of the city limits. All local males, including Ember's father, Jonathan, and Tucker (though recently elected mayor Vlad Masters avoids it due to being busy in one of his many Ghost Zone exploits), vanish into thin air to who knows where, with Rockwell being stunned at what he sees. He did not know this was the plan they had in mind, and he wasted no time in protesting it promptly. "That's not all though Rocky. Check this out!" Ember boasts, striking an equally powerful guitar chord that causes all local females of all ages to fall under her mind control spell (save for Jazz, Sam, and Maddie, due to anti-ghost technology protecting them). "Oh no, they got rid of all males and brainwashed all other females in the area?! Quick, we've gotta go tell your mom about this," Sam tells Jazz, turning to rush back to the Fentons' place. "All right, the Ghost Getters are on the case!" Jazz states perkily. "Uh, yeah, you've got to think of a better name than that!" Sam responds, cringing slightly and arriving back at the Fentons' shortly thereafter.

While Maddie explains her latest invention to Jazz and Sam (which Jazz later dubs the "Maddie modulator") and the three formulate a plan to infiltrate and capture the three domineering female ghosts responsible for the current chaos plaguing their beloved town, Rockwell continues to advocate vocally against what they are doing, annoying Ember greatly when Kitty tells him to "shut his dirty male muzzle." "Kitty, I think you'd better shut your own yap unless you'd like me to shut it for you. In other words, back off my boy girlfriend!" Ember warns her, her eyes flashing neon green to further accentuate that threatening gesture. "Why you… see what I mean! Males are just plain divisive in all they do! We both know the only reason you're saying that is because you have a soft spot for him," Kitty asserts, rolling her eyes and sighing. "That's true, I do have a spot softer than probably anything else I've yet known in my heart for Rockwell. However, he can't help the fact he's male no more than we can the fact we're female, so why should he be judged harshly for that one fact alone?" Ember asks her with a raised eyebrow and a heavy glare. "I'd like to ask you the same thing about all those other guys you removed," Rockwell interjects, moving closer to his master and brushing the back of her legs with his tail to ensure she knows he's mainly addressing her. "Rocky, I'm trying to stick up for you, so please don't ruin the moment, 'kay?" Ember advises him. She then exchanges glances with Kitty and Spectra before heading to a stage they had set up for them earlier that afternoon alongside Rockwell.

The first person to infiltrate one of the ghost girls' domains is Maddie, who is assigned with capturing one Penelope Spectra. Spectra is apparently hosting a live TV show named after herself, where she requests a guest from the audience to join her onstage during her cooking segment. Just when she was about to suck Spectra into her Fenton thermos, Spectra mistakes her for her volunteer and forces her into a cooking outfit. Before she can fully react, Maddie sees Sam's mother emerge on the opposite end of the stage as her would-be cooking "opponent." This angers her to no end, as she has always been greatly annoyed by her fellow female in times past, and thus forgoes the chance to capture Spectra to attempt to humiliate Sam's mother on live television. The second person to try to stop a female phantasm is Sam herself. Her target is Kitty, but she loses her opportunity miserably when she is forced to fight a massive female bodybuilder instead of Kitty. "Oh great… I hope this doesn't leave any permanent marks!" Sam exclaims uneasily as she receives a powerful blow to the face. Lastly, Jazz signs up as a temporary backup singer for Ember and Rockwell, being highly surprised that Rockwell is actually involved in this, considering how anti-male it all is at its core. Ember improvises some catchy pro-feminine lyrics for a song she calls "Girls' Night Out." Unfortunately for Jazz, she flubs her line in the song rather spectacularly, being so off-key, the song abruptly ends and the crowd buries her in a pile of trash as she attempts to use her thermos on Ember. "Whew, that was close. Keep a special eye on her and anyone else like her from now on," Ember whispers to Rockwell, having a small group of her more rabid female fan base drag Jazz far away from the concert area and dump her in the middle of a deserted back alleyway. Maddie, Sam, and Jazz eventually all regroup back at the Fenton's place and determine their next course of action.

Returning to Amity Park's main downtown park (also called "Amity Park," unsurprisingly) with a new plan in mind and the Maddie modulator device in tow, Maddie, Jazz, and Sam prepare themselves to fight their ghostly female counterparts however they can, additionally utilizing the Fenton peeler as well as their standard-issue Fenton thermoses as needed. They first need to trick Kitty to use her anti-male spell so they can reverse its effects across the city using the modulator at just the right time, and successfully do so by having Sam dress up like Danny and pretend to be a male. Rockwell senses something strange about her when she begins getting a little too close to Ember for his personal comfort, finally revealing that she is actually a girl in disguise due to certain pheromone-based scent differences. By this point, though, it is too late, for Kitty has already had her spell reversed by Maddie's modulating machine and Sam has already revealed her actual identity, activated the Fenton peeler's built-in body armor function, and charged the stage straight into Kitty, sending her flying across an open area of the park behind the stage.

"Girls, ATTACK!" Ember shouts angrily after seeing all the males returned to Amity Park, sparring one-on-one with Jazz while Spectra takes on her mother. Sam uses a combination of her suit's prowess and her own strategy to easily take down Kitty solo. She next tries to help Jazz with Ember, who is posing a rather formidable threat to her younger female rival, though Jazz barely manages to evade most of Ember's attacks with swift reflexes. Jazz gets knocked down after one blow, but quickly recovers to dodge Ember's fast follow-up one. Sam intervenes on Jazz's behalf, but Ember anticipates her charge and flips her into a nearby wall, striking a chord and blasting her deeper into it afterwards. While Sam recovers, Jazz continues to engage Ember, managing to blast her with her ectoplasmic cannon, stunning Ember and stinging her painfully. "Emmy!" Rockwell barks, getting in position and unleashing a strong guitar-amplified shock wave attack at Jazz. "AH!" Jazz shrieks, collapsing to her knees in tremendous burning pain while Ember mocks her and praises Rockwell. While Ember remains distracted by Jazz, Sam sneaks up behind her and sucks her into her thermos, greatly offending Rockwell. As he and her duke it out mano-a-pata, Maddie struggles to hold her own against the powerful Spectra, being sent flying backwards into a nearby trashcan. Spectra then attempts to finish Maddie off, but Sam breaks away from Rockwell to aid her, finding it particularly odd that he did not even seem to attempt to stop her from engaging Spectra. While she distracts Spectra, Jazz sucks her into her thermos and smiles victoriously, although Rockwell was all that remained for them to deal with. "Look dog boy, you can either come quietly or forcefully. The choice is yours!" Sam tells him. "Let's see… here's my answer!" he replies, charging power before unleashing a powerful discharge attack at all three of them, shocking Maddie strongly, shocking Sam to a lesser extent thanks to her suit's defenses, and barely missing Jazz, though it does disable her thermos and fray her hair rather hilariously. Hearing the gathering crowd roar in laughter at her hair, Jazz looks at her reflection in a small pond and cries out in embarrassment, "That's it, you're THROUGH, you hear me? THROUGH!" She charges fearlessly at Rockwell as he enters ghost mode and goes intangible to avoid whatever attack she dares use against him. "Ha, is that all you've got foolish girl?" he smirks while still intangible. "Nope, not at all!" she responds, catching Sam's thrown thermos and sucking him into it despite his active intangibility, since apparently, the thermos's power is strong enough to override a ghost's intangibility.

While Maddie, Jazz, and Sam celebrate their hard-earned victory, Ember, Rockwell, and Kitty have a frank discussion inside Sam's thermos (still in Jazz's possession at the time). "See, I knew we'd lose the moment you gals decided to take your frustrations out on innocent males. Just because your present and past boyfriends are jerks doesn't mean you treat others that way!" Rockwell grumbles, snarling a bit at Kitty and glaring sternly in disapproval at his wayward mistress. "Hey, at least I wasn't tempted to break our truce with that Phantom kid. I assume he was among the many males we had vanish, but I don't know for sure, since he wasn't among them to face us when they returned later," Ember expresses. "True, but still… ugh. Can you at least tell me you were seriously wrong in doing all this?" he requests of her. After a long pause and deep sigh from her, Ember concedes, "Fine, I'll admit it. Remember that this wasn't originally my idea, though. I just went along with it to please my fellow wounded females more than anything else." Hearing this from Ember, Kitty is shocked, and when Rockwell attempts to speak again, she loudly orders him, "Shut your dirty male muzzle this instant mutt!" He growls savagely at her, and when she tries to make him disappear with her anti-male spell, Ember stuns her with a wave from her guitar, forcing her to stand down if she knows what is best for her. Jazz later releases all three of them plus Spectra back into the Ghost Zone, doing that little victory dance of hers as she does so.

Back in the Ghost Zone, Rockwell talks with Ember a bit about her past treatment of Skulker, to which she does agree that she was rather unnecessarily harsh to him at times. Thus, she determines the best course of action to take is to make nice with him as soon as possible. Locating his home from memory of its position, they find him and approach him with her new proposition. "Humph, you have the nerve to ask me to be your friend after breaking my heart more than once?" Skulker complains. "Gr… fine, I accept your offer. Why did you have to toy with my affections at first instead of just telling me you weren't interested in me?" he continues. "Well, I guess sometimes, a girl needs more time to make up her mind about things like that, that's all. It's nothing personal, though. Know that for sure. You're not half as bad once you get beyond your cold metallic exterior and crazy hunter shtick," Ember explains with a few chuckles. "Heck, even I can attest to that, and you've even tried hunting me before!" Rockwell notes, chuckling for himself. "Ha, you were worthy prey though, that's why! I'll try my best not to go after you from now on as per Miss McLaine's request," Skulker states. The three share a few more laughs together before going their separate ways.

Ever since Vlad Masters was originally elected mayor of Amity Park on Election Day of 2004, he has implemented many new anti-ghost laws and ordinances, even spearheading a few that went all the way to Washington, D.C. One of his latest ones called for the creation and implementation of a specialized anti-ghost squad called Masters' Blasters. They had the latest in anti-ghost technology, with exceptionally powerful weaponry that could subdue even the strongest of ghosts if they were not careful enough. The three members of Masters' Blasters were all in their late teens, consisting of two males and a female. They went by the codenames Download, Thrash, and Vid, respectively. Together, they foiled Danny Phantom's plans to stop rival ghosts at every turn, even going so far as to inadvertently convince him to give up his ghost powers by reversing the effects of the original accident via his parents' ghost portal during its repair state; Danny's parents Jack and Maddie are also arrested and jailed for supposedly knowingly harboring a spectral lifeform under their roof. Ember and Rockwell take special note of their presence as well, since they are also half-ghosts and would hate to have that fact discovered and made public. They did not fully trust how everyone might treat them if the word got out, especially their parents, for though they claimed and tried to care less about wanting their parents' approval – very true in most respects – a small part of them always wished they had it somehow even now. They both personally hated politics generally speaking, though they also believed that many issues, particularly the more moral ones, were definitely important for all informed citizens to consider. Vlad Masters was a terrible mayor as far as they were concerned, and as time passed, they quickly grew to hate his leadership, feeling that his anti-ghost laws were not just targeting Danny Phantom, but themselves too. Their relationship with him as their boss at Sinister Records became increasingly strained, with outright arguments occurring back and forth between them and Masters on multiple occasions. They briefly attempted to take him to court over his wrongfully reducing their salaries in a highly publicized case of _McLaine v. Masters_. However, the bribed local judge refused to even hear their case, and when their appeals to higher courts also failed miserably, they openly spoke out against Masters's corrupt business practices on multiple occasions to the local news media. Danny Phantom sees this as a huge sign that Masters has been on a serious power trip lately and tries to devise a way to stop him.

 _Knock knock knock_. The door opens as Ember answers the door of her prestigious manor to see none other than Masters' Blasters standing before her. "Great, what do _you_ three want?" she questions them moodily. "We're hear probing for any signs of spectral activity in the area. There happens to be a very obvious spike of said activity in the location of your estate, so we're here to further investigate the observation firsthand by order of Mayor Masters," Vid announces. "Spectral activity, you say? Hmm… I'm pretty sure there's never been such things anywhere around my home here, so if you'd all be so kind as to get the heck off my property this instant, there won't be any trouble. Understood flunkies?" Ember warns them, maintaining her composure enough to not have her eyes flash green and blow her cover prematurely. "Yeah yeah, we'll be the judge of that. Blasters, let's split up! Search this place high and low for any sign of ghosts," Thrash orders his squadmates, shoving their way past Ember and all throughout their house. She follows behind Download at first, who leads her to the living room. Encased in a large glass container just above the fireplace's mantle is her famous customized guitar (affectionately dubbed the "Ghostar" by Ember), lying just to the left of Rockwell's customized guitar in a similar display case beside it. "Whoa, I'm picking up an ectoplasmic signature. It's coming from that fireplace… no, the guitars! Is there something weird about those? They look pretty normal to me," Download says to himself out loud. "Do they now? Ever heard of the phrase 'what you see isn't always what you get' before?" Ember asks as she approaches him from behind, startling him. "Heh, would you like me to show you how it's played? A musician of my caliber could surely show you so," she continues, walking gracefully toward the fireplace, climbing a small stepladder, unlocking the display case, and removing her guitar from it. Facing Download, she turns the special dial on it to the skull symbol and strums a quick power chord aimed directly at him, sending him flying into the wall on the far side of the room, knocking him out cold. Smirking, Ember heads to her and Rockwell's shared master bedroom.

There, she arrives just in time to see Thrash giving Rockwell trouble for setting off his ghost detection device. Seeing Ember appear in the doorway, Rockwell fires an ectoplasmic blast at Thrash before he can react, with Ember following that up by smacking him on the back of the head with her guitar, knocking him out easily too. "One left. I've got a perfect idea for how to deal with her, too, heh heh!" she tells Rockwell before going invisible. Rushing to Thrash's side, Vid enters the bedroom and sees Rockwell sitting peacefully on his haunches in the middle of the room, as innocent-looking as ever. "Dumb dog, did you do this?!" she yells wildly at Rockwell, activating a built-in ectoplasmic laser blaster and aiming it at him. Just before her shot fully charges, Rockwell's eyes flash neon green as he enters ghost mode and goes intangible before her, the shot firing off and traveling straight through him harmlessly. "The dog's a ghost?! WHAT THE HECK'S GOING O… ugh… huh… oh! I must be rambling again. Surely this is just a normal doggy-woggy! No more, no less, I guess. I think it's time I took a good long nap now, so bye-bye!" Vid utters, smacking her head against the doorframe hard and rendering herself unconscious. "All right Ember, come on out now. I know it's really you!" Rockwell admits, smiling widely at her as she reveals herself once again. "You've gotta love overshadowing sorry scrubs like these, don't you think Rocky?" Ember observes while he nods in sound accordance. They then proceed to round up all three of Masters' Blasters while they remain unconscious and dump them off on the front steps of city hall, sending their incumbent boss a very clear message on exactly how they feel regarding his latest anti-ghost policies.

The following afternoon, Ember and Rockwell hear the dreaded news of a large asteroid headed for the earth. They are deeply alarmed by this threat, and even though they would both certainly go intangible to escape the direct cataclysmic effects of such a disaster, they would have no way of surviving for long after that. "Oh Rocky… do you really think this is it? I hope to God it's not! We've only just begun both our lives," Ember laments, drying a few tears with a tissue. "I… I dunno. I'm not so sure about much of anything right now after hearing that. However, we need to take a moment to reflect on our lives together before anything else," Rockwell tells her, consoling her with a loving lick on the cheek. They spend every evening before bedtime in a state of heartfelt prayer, which gives them a calming sort of boost to their otherwise frightful demeanors. Once Vlad Masters publicly reveals his identity as Vlad Plasmius, Ember and Rockwell are both surprised and disgusted at him for doing so, since he is literally blackmailing the entire world by offering to render the asteroid intangible. "How _dare_ he do such a thing! It's not like we didn't know the truth about his being part ghost, but the fact that he's actually Plasmius is definitely disturbing, to say the least," Ember exclaims. "Em, a part of me hates to say this, but I feel we no longer have much choice in the matter: unless Danny Phantom steps up and does something similar, we need to step in and stop him for ourselves. I for one am certainly not thrilled about the prospect of living under Supreme Overlord Plasmius," Rockwell opines to his master. "Ugh, tell me about it. Blech!" she replies, cringing sharply and rolling her eyes. "So, Emmy… are you with me when I say we need to march on up to city hall and announce our proposition to the world? It'll involve us revealing our own ghostly identities, but under the assumption that people would much rather enlist us in saving the planet for free than make a deal with the devil that is Vlad Plasmius," he requests, making a handsome hopeful smile that he knows Ember cannot resist. Sighing, she nods, speaking, "For all that is right and good in the world, we must do this! It'd definitely boost our reputations, too." With their plan in mind, they go downtown to city hall to present their idea to the deeply desperate world.

"We bring you live from city hall in Amity Park, where rock superstars Ember McLaine and Rockwell Manectric have an important public announcement to make! Here they are now," local news anchor Lance Thunder remarks, with all eyes and cameras facing Ember and Rockwell as they take their positions before a small podium. "We have a few very important things to admit today. I know that there's already been one major surprise today with Vlad Masters coming out as being part ghost. Let's just say that we're about to add to the number of surprises, heh heh! Ember, take it away," Rockwell begins, stepping aside for Ember to step forward and state her part. "The truth is, there's a far better way to turn that asteroid intangible, and it doesn't involve Vlad Plasmius! He has you all fooled into believing he's the only half-ghost in the world, but he's dead wrong! See for yourselves everyone, and tell us again that he's the so-called 'only half-ghost around!'" she proclaims before entering ghost mode with Rockwell for all the world to see, neon green eyes and all. The crowd gasps at this stunning revelation as Lance Thunder reports, "I… I can't believe it! Ember and Rockwell… they're also half-ghosts just like Vlad Masters! This isn't just breaking news, it's shattering!" Feeling more confident than ever in this moment, Ember adds, "Oh, and Vlad, know this: we quit! Independent artist-dom here we come!" Rockwell barks in an affirmative tone, giving Ember a high-five (or high-four technically, in his case), the crowd cheering wildly and chanting "Ember! Rockwell!" repeatedly.

They soon discover that Plasmius has already arranged a spacecraft (piloted by Jack Fenton) to launch within the next half hour, with him shoving them away from the podium and telling the press, "You see everyone, there's no place in our, excuse me, MY future world for these kinds of self-righteous fools! Only I have a spacecraft that will transport me to the asteroid in time to save the planet! Lest you all forget who's _really_ in charge around here right now," Plasmius explains sardonically as Ember and Rockwell shove him back twice as hard. "It's very clear the good people of the world would much rather have us help out than you, isn't that right everyone?" Ember shouts toward the crowd, with them cheering as loudly as ever in return. "Oh you've got to be kidding… OH!" Plasmius retorts, hovering over the crowd and angrily yelling, "I'm the one that made young Emily and her pet who they are today! I provided everything they needed to get them as far as they've gotten today, and may nobody EVER forget that, _especially_ you two treacherous ingrates!" He attempts to blast his former employees with a pair of powerful ectoplasmic beams, but they go intangible at the last second, dodging them and retaliating with an equally powerful quartet of ectoplasmic beams; Plasmius simply deflects them away with an ecto-shield, attempting to fly at them from above and tackle them, when Rockwell paralyzes him in midair with his crippling thunder wave technique. "Why you… AGH!" Plasmius vocalizes, falling and landing face down on the stairs below him in an awkwardly contorted heap. "This isn't over… you'll both pay dearly for this someday, or my name isn't Vlad Plasmius!" he vows, weakly shaking his fist at them while they shoot him dirty looks and fly away elsewhere.

After the paralysis wears off, Plasmius wastes no time entering his private spaceship, activating an external ghost shield just in case any unwanted spectral hitchhikers attempt to board it and play hero instead of him. He and Jack share a rather somber conversation together on their journey to the asteroid, Jack being particularly perplexed as to how his former best friend could betray him and literally hold the entire world captive for mere riches and power. As expected, Plasmius is not fazed by this in the slightest, having long hated Jack for supposedly stealing Maddie from him as well as accidentally infecting him with ecto-acne way back in the mid-'80s. He humiliates Jack repeatedly by accusing him of committing intentional wrongdoing against him all this time, which Jack promptly refutes. When they do arrive at the asteroid within the hour, Plasmius exits the craft and moves himself into a comfortable position to render the asteroid intangible from. Much to his deep chagrin, though, he discovers the asteroid is composed completely of a special element he calls "Ectoranium" – an odd substance that is impossible to be touched by ghosts without severely harming them. Originally planning on mining it to make special weapons strong enough to allow him to easily overtake the Ghost Zone for himself, Plasmius now realizes the same element he sought to use for his own evil ends has now been used against him in an ironic turn of events. He pleads for Jack to help him, but Jack returns to Earth without him, leaving him to wander the solar system alone indefinitely as punishment for his wicked crimes.

At home, Ember and Rockwell contact various now ex-members of their band about the dissolution of their contract with Sinister Records, occasionally watching the news reports flash by on their large flatscreen television. Presently, the media on all levels are primarily concerned with one of three things: the incoming asteroid, the most recent failed attempt to stop it, and the public revelation of themselves and Vlad Masters as being half-ghosts. "Great, now the whole world's freaked out by just how many other ghost hybrids might be out there, and a few criminals around the nation have actually claimed guilty by reason of spectral possession. Some pundits have even accused known eccentrics like Michael Jackson with possibly being part ghost! How pathetic!" Rockwell exclaims, rolling his eyes at such an ignorant proposition. "Tell me about it. I just hope this doesn't turn into some kind of witch hunt, but for ghosts instead of witches. I honestly just might go insane if that were to ever actually happen…," Ember expresses with a sigh. "We'd best be on high alert for any would-be hecklers. The last thing we need is for anti-ghost sentiment to spread rapidly throughout the uninformed general populace," he continues. "Ugh, I don't wanna even begin to imagine even more misunderstanding about us from others. There's enough already as it stands now. Those so-called 'Christian' protesters that crop up at almost every single public performance of ours didn't get there overnight," she reminds him. Changing subjects, she adds, "So, we're agreed: the name of our own private recording company will be Rock 'Em Records. Right?" He turns to her, smirks, and replies, "Yup! Rock 'Em Records for the win baby, woo! Just pray the world will still be around long enough for us to make an independent name for ourselves…." The main headquarters for their new company would be none other than their own stately home's sizably large basement.

Throughout the remainder of the week, Danny Phantom leads a global effort to enact his own plan to fruition: the creation of a worldwide series of metallic connectors to be used by enough ghosts to make the entire planet intangible, in theory. Everyone figures it is the best chance they have left to save their homeworld, and many hundreds and thousands of people (ultimately headed by the Fentons) from every nation come together to lay the connectors accordingly. Catching wind of Danny's plan from a televised media report, Ember and Rockwell decide to predict his next move and head into the Ghost Zone to await his inevitable return there. Surely enough, Danny does travel there in a special jet, collecting as many ghosts as he can throughout the many seemingly infinite realms of the zone. However, when he attempts to head back to Earth again, Skulker shoots his cargo net loose, freeing the myriad of ghosts therein. He abandons the jet at the last second and tries hard to convince Skulker and the rest to follow his lead in saving both their world and the physical planet, too. Just when it seems all hope may be forever lost here and now when Skulker vows to never help Danny Phantom after all the trouble he has given so many of them before, Ember and Rockwell appear at that moment to sway Skulker's decision in Danny's favor. "Don't worry, you can thank us later. Now, let's go save both our worlds!" Ember tells Danny, with Rockwell barking affirmatively as they and all the other ghosts follow Danny to the frozen continent of Antarctica. Once there, they all get into position, and on Danny's word, all use their intangibility powers in unison, successfully turning the planet wholly intangible just long enough for the asteroid to pass harmlessly through it.

Immediately afterwards, the celebration all around the world is greater than ever before in all history, with the comparably small gathering at the South Pole being especially ecstatic. While the rest of the ghosts return to the Ghost Zone, Ember and Rockwell stick around a bit longer to observe all the happy people celebrating there, sharing a few laughs with a few random strangers while they are at it. When Danny reverts back to his usual human form in front of everyone else present, she watches intently to see his parents' reactions to the truth about his ghost powers. At first, they seem unduly stern with him for lying about it to them all this time, which she is honestly not very surprised by at all. That soon changes, though, when they both embrace him and tell him how proud they really are for him and all the good he has done, assuring him that they accept him for who and what he is no matter what, and certainly so since who and what he is is not such a bad thing after all. To this, Ember and Rockwell feel happy for Danny and his family, of course, but inside, they feel dreadful, since they are virtually certain their own parents would probably never accept them the same way. As they hang their heads, frown miserably, and begin to slowly walk away from the area, Sam notices their leaving and nudges Danny, bringing it to his attention too. She, he, and Tucker approach Ember and Rockwell and confront them about their inner feelings.

"Hey, why so glum? We just literally saved the entire world and you guys are already back to sulking again?" Danny asks them thoughtfully. "Pf, nothing you'd probably ever understand, let alone care about," Ember mutters partially under her breath, turning her head away from him in dismay. Sighing aloud, Danny faces Sam and whispers something in her ear, to which she turns to Ember and states, "Trust me, we both know what it's like to have parents we feel don't always understand us, but loving us… that's a totally different thing! Heck, my parents can't stand probably 90% of what I say or do half the time, yet they always let me know how much I mean to them every day. Didn't yours?" Ember remains silent to this at first, with Rockwell interjecting, "You see, this is a rather touchy subject for both of us, especially her. To keep it brief, let's just say if our parents were even half as loving as yours obviously are, we wouldn't have probably done any of the bad things we did before. Heck, dare I say we might not even be world-renowned rock stars if that weren't true. But you know what they say: everything, both good and bad, has a definite purpose in life. We just don't always know the reason at first, but trust me, it's there." "Y… you really think so Rocky? That we very well might not be where we're at today with our music career and such if it weren't for our parents?" Ember inquires of him curiously, her eyes widening somewhat. "Well, in a funny sorta way… yeah, I do," Rockwell responds, nodding slightly. "Hmm… now that you put it that way, I guess perhaps I should thank them for that somehow. Then again, I don't want to encourage their rotten treatment of us over the years either… darn it, this is so confusing! UGH!" she remarks with a cringe. Talking it over with Sam and Tucker for a moment, Danny tells them both, "Look, perhaps you guys should try to focus more on any positive memories and impacts your parents given you throughout your lives, no matter how small. Sometimes even a little honest credit is better than none at all."

"A little honest credit you say? Huh… maybe we have been a teensy bit hard on them in retrospect, don't you think Rocky?" Ember questions her beloved canine companion. "Absolutely. This conversation really opened up our eyes to many things we hadn't quite considered before, being so blinded by vengeance and hatred oftentimes. S… sorry for all the trouble from before. I believe I speak for us both when I say that, Danny Phantom," Rockwell admits as an expression of obvious guilt and shame quickly grows upon both his and Ember's faces. "No problem, it's all good now! Like I said before, just remember to keep the truce intact, and we should never have any trouble again!" Danny assures them with a smile. As he and his two best friends take turns shaking hands (or paws, in Rockwell's case) with both of their former rivals, they each go their separate ways, with Danny shouting as they do so, "Oh, and thanks for all the help you two! I'll never forget it!" With their newfound response toward their parents in mind coupled with their helping Danny save the world earlier that day, hearing Danny's heartfelt thankfulness toward them is like a cherry on top of the big ice cream sundae of life, with both Ember and Rockwell feeling both satisfied and at peace inside for once in a great long while. Each of them saying a silent prayer to the One that truly makes all things possible, they both head home for the day and have a fantastic time joining in all the fun festivities their home town of Amity Park has to offer both Danny Phantom and them for all their hard heroic work earlier that day.

Due partly to the increasing levels of public unrest and backlash by many against their being ghost hybrids and partly to the high amount of stress that they have both recently endured together, Ember and Rockwell jointly decide to go on hiatus for the time being from touring, recording, etc. to take time to simply relax and unwind on an indefinite vacation. "You know Rocky, we really deserve this break, so let's do something special together. Something that'll make us bond like old times. Hey, I've got it! Why not go back to Pokémon battling again? C'mon boy, it'll be fun!" Ember suggests with a demeanor of youthful girlishness that Rockwell simply cannot refuse. "Emmy, let's do it! We'll show 'em all what it means to battle with fortitude and honor like no other!" he exclaims, wagging his tail and licking Ember on the cheek. With this goal in mind, they both get ready and gather a handful of travel brochures at a local store. Little did they know that their fate involved one of these aforementioned brochures, in one advertising a faraway location on the opposite side of the country. A place neither one of them had ever heard of before. A place known to the locals there by one name: Orre.


	11. The Not So Sweet Escape

**Chapter 11: "The Not So Sweet Escape"**

"Orre? Where's that at?" Rockwell asks Ember as she peruses the Orre travel brochure closely. "Apparently, it's a desert resort region located in southern California, ranging from just south of San Diego by the Mexican border inland toward Yuma, Arizona. Pokémon battling is a huge pastime there for many of its thousands of residents and many annual tourists. They've also got hot springs, lots of great hotels, and plenty of desert-based tourism, in addition to fishing competitions at the local harbor town, sandy beaches, redwood forest campsites, and even hiking on an active volcano!" she reads from the brochure. "Sounds like a great place to unwind. I'm all in if you are!" he informs her, grinning. "You know my answer already, I'm sure. Of course I'm in! This'll be a dream vacation if it's anything like this pamphlet makes it out to be," she says. Flipping the brochure over, she sees a small notice at the bottom of the back page. "What's this?" she utters to herself softly, reading the notice and smirking rather obviously at its contents. "Well well, look what I found out: according to this, there's a local organization called Chirp-E that hosts online birdwatching and is recruiting strong competent Pokémon trainers to oversee one of their sponsored local tourney arenas, or colosseums, as they're often called in Orre. We've never lost a single battle in our lives so far and are the official Pokémon champions of Amity Park. Why couldn't we easily run a whole arena by ourselves?" she conjectures. "Oh, we could, rest assured that's true. I think we should sign up for this organization's little endeavor and show them how mighty we really are in battle!" he remarks, smirking back at Ember all his own. "And so it begins. Dear Orre, Chirp-E, and anyone else in our way: ready or not, here come Ember and Rockwell, HA!" she declares, hugging Rockwell in much anticipation.

Making all necessary preparations the following day, Ember and Rockwell go to the Amity Park International Airport and book a flight to Orre leaving at 0900 hours that morning. Security is tighter than usual, partly because of the recent ghost hysteria compounding the already stringent measures taken in lieu of 9/11. They are almost denied travel when someone reminds the security staff that they are known half-ghosts, but a quick ecto-scan fails to prove this fact, as it is not a deep scanning device and does not detect their ectoplasmic DNA when they are not in ghost mode. They quickly board their flight ahead of schedule to ensure their cargo, most importantly their guitars, is properly secured in their plane's fuselage storage compartment. They are fortunate enough to be seated in first-class next to a young couple with a twin brother/sister pair that are all adamant fans of Ember and Rockwell, whom they converse with throughout the majority of the flight across the country to Orre. "You guys are the coolest! I'll never forget this day!" one of the kids tells them as they depart their plane and part ways with the two celebrities. Waving goodbye to the kids and their family, Ember and Rockwell smile uncontrollably, with Ember saying, "Ah, such innocent young hearts. You gotta love 'em, you know?" "Heh heh, you know it! God bless those precious human pups. I'm just glad I got to spend time with them today. They'll likely forever cherish their autographed napkins, won't they?" Rockwell notes with a chuckle. "I'd say so. I'll never forget them either," she replies while unloading their luggage. "Me neither," he concurs, taking a couple rolling suitcases for himself while he and Ember travel by limousine to scenic Phenac City, where they are staying at the luxurious five-star Crown Jewel Hotel.

The local news media covers Ember and Rockwell's arrival at their hotel, to which they simply wave and smile like usual, thankfully not having to deal with any improvised interviews as they make their way to their presidential suite on the building's twenty-first floor. They lock their suite's door once they are inside it so they will not be disturbed by anyone, giving them ample time to put their luggage away and adjust their living quarters accordingly with minimal risk of interruption. "Whew, glad that's done! Let's just relax for the rest of the day. We'll begin sightseeing and learning more about this mysterious Chirp-E organization first thing tomorrow after breakfast," Ember states as she kicks off her sneakers and leaps backwards onto her king-sized bed. "Ah… so soft! C'mon Rocky, try your bed out!" she recommends to him. "I'm on it!" Rockwell replies, removing his own shoes and leaping onto his bed like a pouncing wolf. "Oh yeah, it _is_ soft! Like the softest Swanna down," he exclaims, nuzzling his equally plush pillow and causing some excess static to emit from it. Getting a clever idea, Ember begins jumping on her bed, coaxing Rockwell to follow her lead and do the same on his, which he naturally obliges. A couple minutes of this, and Ember decides to mix things up a bit and use her ghost powers to hover back and forth between their beds mid-leap. "Can ya do that silly boy?" she challenges him. "Ha, you're on!" Rockwell responds, chuckling and imitating her technique perfectly a few times, adding a midair backflip in the middle of his last jump. "Defying… gravity… is… AWESOME!" she shouts, doing the same thing Rockwell did with the midair backflip and landing onto the opposite bed on her hands instead of her feet. "Dare you try to hand, er… pawstand like that?" she tells him with a wink. "Dare I? Do I!" he remarks, nearly falling over his first attempt, but succeeding nonetheless. They jump around a little while longer until he accidentally lands on top of Ember as she recovers from a slight stumble, to which they giggle at one another like the young girl and pup they both were at heart. To them, moments like these were special, priceless, memory-inducing moments that they would cherish for the rest of their lives (and beyond). For dinner, they dine in the hotel's own indoor restaurant, which also contains a giant aquarium teeming with aquatic animals of all kinds, including many water-type Pokémon. By the end of the day, they are both ready for a long night's sleep, which they both experience in their respective beds peacefully.

At the crack of dawn, Ember and Rockwell awaken to begin the long day ahead of them. They get freshened up, get dressed, and head out for a free continental breakfast buffet before they shop around the various stores in downtown Phenac City. Following a light lunch, they tour the majestic Phenac Colosseum, with the receptionist Layla explaining to them that the unnamed representatives of Chirp-E would soon be hosting a training session for any and all wannabe members of their shady organization. "All right Rocky, you ready for this? We haven't trained or battled much lately, but I know we've still got it! I brought a backpack full of useful items to aid us just in case, too," Ember asks him. "I'm right as rain and ready to rumble Emmy! Just let me at 'em and I'll do the rest!" Rockwell assures her, an astute look of confidence on his face. They register their names and wait patiently to be called by Layla, dodging the occasional invasive fan or tenacious paparazzo by going invisible as needed. "Ember McLaine and Rockwell Manectric, your time has come! Head inside the main chamber at once. Your moderator and battle host is waiting for you there," Layla announces. "About time! Ready or not, here we come Chirp-E!" Ember asserts proudly as she and Rockwell enter the central arena side by side, their hearts beating together in perfect rhythm.

Making their way to the heart of the Phenac Colosseum, Ember and Rockwell notice the stands are completely empty, with only a solitary chair lying near the arena's center. "Huh, that's odd. There's no one here," Ember mutters to Rockwell quietly. "Something seems strange here…," he speaks back, cautiously observing his surroundings for any sign of life. One minute passes, then five, then ten. Still nothing. Suddenly, a trapdoor beneath the floor near them opens up, and a slender pink-haired female figure emerges from it. She calmly walks over to and sits in the small chair as the trapdoor closes behind her, crossing her legs and smirking at her two special guests. "Well well, if it isn't the world-famous Ember McLaine and her loyal Manectric sidekick, Rockwell!" the young woman declares. "While we did expect to attract many a strong trainer with that ad, we never expected to draw two as powerful and prominent as you. Oh what a treat it is to have you both here today!" she adds. "My name is Lovrina, and I'm one of nine administrators for the organization you know as Chirp-E. Today, I will so test your ability as a trainer and Pokémon. We'll start off with a one-on-one battle, and then branch out from there in time. Are you both, like, ready?" Lovrina asks them, standing up from her seat and smiling unforgivingly at them. "I'm not fully sure yet. Rocky, you ready?" Ember inquires, to which he answers, "Oh, uh… not quite. Lemme dress down to my battling clothes first." Removing all but a white undershirt and a pair of blue athletic shorts, he puts them aside and stands before his master in a battle-ready stance. Lovrina unlatches a Pokéball from her belt and activates it, releasing a female Sylveon from it. "Sylvy, take position!" Lovrina orders, the Sylveon responding accordingly without even the slightest hesitation. "Rockwell, let's do this! Go get 'em, boy!" Ember goads him on with, Rockwell looking back over his shoulder and winking at her in compliant confirmation. "3… 2… 1… NOW! Battle start!" Lovrina shrills.

Ember has Rockwell kick things off with a thunder wave, paralyzing the Sylveon. While the Sylveon struggles to maintain her balance, he zaps her with a powerful thunderbolt. The Sylveon seems to take the hit fairly well and uses Rockwell's downtime between attacks to heal herself with heal bell, curing the paralysis. Rockwell dodges the Sylveon's moonblast and unleashes a discharge at her, doing decent damage but not getting lucky with the paralysis chance. The Sylveon counters with a draining kiss, healing herself a bit in the process and weakening Rockwell slightly. "Ugh, no kissy-kissy here! If I won't let my most ardent female fans do that, why you?" he exclaims sarcastically, wiping the Sylveon saliva off his muzzle and using thunder wave again, paralyzing her a second time. "Remember Rocky, only four moves are allowed per battle at this stadium's tourneys," Ember reminds him just in case. After noticing his special attacks, even his STAB ones, do not seem to have as much effect on the Sylveon as he would like, he uses iron tail for his final allowed move, inflicting heavy damage on the Sylveon and twisting one of her ankles. The Sylveon yelps in pain, desperately trying to recover from the blow, but it is too late, as one more iron tail to the chest sends the poor Sylveon flying across the arena's center several yards, rendering it an unconscious canine heap on the floor. "Sylvy, get up! Sylvy!" Lovrina shouts at her, but to no avail, as the physically frail creature is completely unconscious. "Dumb dog… all right, battle's over, you both win and pass the first test! There're so many more to go, though, I can so assure you," she informs her special guests. "What's with her speech?" Rockwell whispers in Ember's ear while Lovrina returns the Sylveon to her Pokéball and heads back into the hidden trapdoor for whatever reason. "I've heard this before, Rocky. This is southern California. She's obviously like so totally a valley girl, yo!" Ember says softly back to him, mocking Lovrina with her vocal tone. To that, they both share a laugh and await for their next test from Lovrina.

Almost half an hour passes before Lovrina returns from the trapdoor. "All right you two, let's see how you fight in a double battle! I know that singles are so your specialty, but can you, like, branch out and show us some versatility? You should know that here in Orre, double battles are so totally the rage. You could say they're so a local battling tradition of sorts," she explains. "Whoa, double battles? I've heard of those before, but never actually seen one, let alone been in one before. You need at least two Pokémon per team to fight them fairly, but I've only got Rocky here. He's all I ever truly need, but you know, rules and all…," Ember points out, nudging Rockwell on the head playfully. "Exactly, which is why I'm so providing you with five more Pokémon! Will see how you handle it and all the rest. Now then, show us, like, your absolute worst!" Lovrina challenges them as a smug smirk forms upon her face. Though she knows that Ember and Rockwell are two seriously strong opponents, she hopes that she might best them in a battling format neither of them are used to, although she would soon learn not to underestimate them under any circumstances. Ember's starting Pokémon were all electric-type ones, which Lovrina specifically hand-picked for her since she figured that she was likely a great candidate for an electric-type specialist. They consisted of a Magneton, a female Pachirisu, a female Emolga, a female Eelektrik, and a female Dedenne. After discovering they were all apparently nameless, Ember and Rockwell worked together to think of some quick witty names for each of them. They decided to name them Magnet Opus, Pacharlotte, Emelia, Eelektricia, and Dedennise, respectively – rather "punny" nicknames, yes, but befitting enough nonetheless. Consulting a guidebook she owned for strategies utilizing the aforementioned Pokémon and their possible moves, Ember formulates some ideas on how to proceed in the upcoming battle, sharing any necessary points with Rockwell and her new team members. "All right Lovrina: we're ready!" Ember informs her, returning all of her Pokémon to her Pokéballs (besides Magnet Opus and the obvious Rockwell) and preparing herself for battle. "Heh, well then, let's get this so underway!" Lovrina responds, initiating the battle.

Lovrina leads with an eviolite-holding Braixen and a Drilbur coated in bright powder. On the first move of the fight, Ember orders Rockwell to immediately use ice fang on the Drilbur while she switches Magnet Opus out for Eelektricia. However, Rockwell gets blinded by the bright powder and misses his attack, leaving him open for a counterattack by the Drilbur, who uses bulldoze against him and Eelektricia on the swap. The former takes some minor super-effective damage and gets his paws stuck in the dirt, while the latter easily dodges it entirely due to her innate levitate ability. "Crap!" Rockwell mutters to himself as he grimaces from the blow, frees himself from the dirt, and chases the dodging Drilbur around a bit until he strikes with a successful ice fang, doing a great deal of damage to the small mole creature. Eelektricia, on the other hand (or _fin_ , in her case), uses thunder wave at close range to paralyze the Braixen, leaving it open for a quick follow-up attack. Rockwell takes this opportunity to use bite on the Braixen in rapid succession, flinching the fiery fox periodically in between its constant bouts with paralysis until it eventually goes down. Lovrina recalls the fainted Braixen and sends out a Floette in its place, which attempts to use dazzling gleam against both Rockwell and Eelektricia simultaneously. Rockwell partially dodges it, but takes a stinging hit in the tail and hindquarters as Eelektricia takes the full brunt of the move, shaking off the attack's effect several seconds later. "Rockwell, thunderbolt that thing! Eelektricia, discharge at it!" Ember shouts frantically from the sidelines. Rockwell's thunderbolt does good damage to the flowery creature, while the discharge damages and fully paralyzes it while boosting Rockwell's special attack via his lightning rod ability, making it easy fodder for Rockwell to finish off with two more thunderbolts. "Can't catch me! I'm far too fast for your slowpokes," Rockwell taunts Lovrina and her team with. "Oh yeah? You're so going down mutt!" she replies, sending out a Raichu while Eelektricia does serious damage to the Drilbur with super fang. The Drilbur attempts to use bulldoze again, but this time, Rockwell anticipates it and evades it while Eelektricia is immune via levitate. The Raichu fakes out Rockwell and stuns him, with Eelektricia using attract against the feisty weakened mole. This distracts the Drilbur long enough for Rockwell to recover from the Raichu's stun and take the Drilbur out with another use of ice fang, with Lovrina replacing it with a Beautifly. "Ha, too easy! Rocky, show them how an electric-type handles pesky flying insects!" Ember exclaims, with Rockwell responding by sending a thunderbolt at the Beautifly. However, that is when Lovrina calls their bluff and smirks, knowing that her Raichu's ability is the same as Rockwell's: lightning rod. This draws the energy from the thunderbolt to the Raichu, sparing the Beautifly from a guaranteed knockout and boosting its own special attack power by 50%. The Raichu then trips Rockwell with a grass knot while the Beautifly uses bug buzz on Eelektricia, dropping her special defense in the process and doing good damage.

"Eelektricia, return!" Ember announces, withdrawing the weakened eel and sending Emelia out instead. This action prompts Lovrina to withdraw Beautifly and send out her last Pokémon: Fraxure. Ember responds to this by having Emelia attract the male Fraxure while Rockwell uses flamethrower on the Raichu, burning it on contact. "That'll shut down that overgrown rat," Ember states before ordering Rockwell to bite the Raichu and hopefully flinch it and Emelia to use discharge – a risky move since it would boost the Raichu's special attack to double its usual amount, but also boost Rockwell's special attack by another 50%, too. It also paralyzes the Fraxure despite not being very effective against it otherwise, slowing it down and leaving it vulnerable to a powerful ice fang from Rockwell. Both it and the Raichu flinch from the previous two attacks against them, with Raichu using iron tail on Rockwell and the Fraxure using poison jab on Emelia. Rockwell takes the hit very well, since the Raichu is burned and he resisted steel-based moves, while Emelia gets poisoned by the Fraxure's attack against her. Growing more and more frustrated by the second and clearly running out of options, Lovrina uses a full restore on Raichu and a hyper potion on Fraxure. "Oh yeah? Two can play at that game!" Ember yells, using her own full restore on Emelia and a lemonade on Rockwell (he can be picky about the taste of certain healing items), bringing both of them to full health and nearly full health, respectively. The two trainers stare daggers at one another before continuing to issue orders to their Pokémon. At this point, Rockwell goes all out on Raichu with flamethrower after flamethrower, not conceding an inch and burning away most of the Raichu's fur, to its general embarrassment. Emelia employs a similar strategy against the Fraxure, spamming air slash repeatedly until the Fraxure flinches its last time, being finished off by one last ice fang from Rockwell. The Raichu falls to a single bite in its heavily weakened state, collapsing face down in the arena's center and signifying the end of the second test battle shortly after Rockwell finishes off the lone remaining Beautifly.

"So, how was that? Pretty impressive, don't ya think?" Ember asks Lovrina wearing a smug expression on her face. "Why you… I just… UGH!" Lovrina whines, her jaw dropping in utter amazement at her stunning 0:6 loss to Ember and her new team. "C'mon, go ahead. Just admit I whooped your sorry California butt all the way back to Hollywood!" Ember gloats mockingly, sharing her fair share of chuckles with Rockwell. Once she has regained enough composure to speak, Lovrina confesses, "You two are so good and lucky to beat me as well as you did on your very first try. Even I must admit that you two are, like, so totally awesome! Dare you join our ranks here at Chirp-E? I can assure you you'll both have so prominent positions in our beloved organization!" Ember already has her answer ready, for this is the whole reason her and Rockwell even came to Orre in the first place. "Absolutely Lovrina!" she retorts, with Rockwell seconding her motion. "Excellent! Chirp-E, or should I say, _Cipher_ , is so glad to have you! Welcome aboard, heh heh heh!" Lovrina reveals, leading them inside the trapdoor beneath the arena and to a secret underground passage culminating in a subterranean railway. From there, they take a train to a large foreboding pyramid-shaped structure far across the landscape on the extreme northeastern side of Orre.

"This building here is the Cipher Key Lair. Here, we manufacture shadow Pokémon before sending them off to the Shadow Pokémon Lab located elsewhere in the Orre Desert," Lovrina explains, touring them around the Cipher Key Lair through all the main important areas of it. "What exactly are shadow Pokémon? Like, what's the difference between them and non-shadow ones?" inquires one curious Rockwell. "Well, for starters, shadow Pokémon are so better than regular ones in virtually every way. The biggest difference is that they have access to shadow-type moves that are always super-effective against any non-shadow Pokémon, but not very effective against other shadow Pokémon. Another significant difference is that they can so attain levels higher than one hundred in terms of overall statistical power. Just how high can they get? Let's just say not even I know, and I'm, like, a Cipher admin yo!" describes Lovrina. Resisting making a stoner joke at the "how high can they get" part, Rockwell just nods and snickers at her silly double entendre, nudging Ember slightly. "So why do you guys masquerade under the name Chirp-E instead of Cipher?" Ember questions Lovrina. "Well, uh… what Cipher does is not, like, exactly legal or anything, so that's why we've so got to keep it secret! So you two, shush! If anyone asks, you proudly work for Chirp-E, NOT Cipher! Get it?" the young Cipher admin advises them sternly. "Why's it not le… hey!" Rockwell remarks, growling and rubbing his side after Ember elbows him there rather strongly. "I'll tell you later," Ember whispers into his ear as they finish the tour around the Cipher Key Lair. They are assigned to the Phenac Colosseum, which Cipher covertly pulls the strings of behind the scenes, using their wide-ranging influence to instate Ember and Rockwell as the local colosseum champions, meaning that they are always the final round for any trainers seeking the full tournament challenge there.

Cipher ultimately foots the entire bill for Ember and Rockwell's hotel payment for as long as they stay in Orre. Having returned to their presidential suite for the remainder of the evening, Ember finally tells Rockwell why she elbowed him earlier that day at Cipher's shadow Pokémon production base. "It's because I'm afraid they're some kind of gang that might harm us, or worse, if we betrayed them in some way," she admits. "Great… just our luck to get stuck with joining a high-profile criminal organization! Should've known it that ad of theirs was too good to be true without practically selling your soul in the process, so to speak," Rockwell complains in the middle of an epic facepaw. "Don't fret just yet boy. As far as we know, they're completely oblivious to the fact that we both have ghost powers, or at least that's the vibe I'm getting from them so far. That boss of the Cipher Key Lair we met earlier, what was his name… Gorigan! He was clueless as to who we even WERE somehow, let alone that we were half ghost. I suppose no matter how famous one gets, there's always that one person that's still never really heard of you before," she encourages him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "May we have a quiet moment together right now? I think we really need to. There's Someone we need to consult about all this before we go any further along in this," he says, looking heavenward momentarily as a big hint for her to understand what he meant. Ember nodding slowly in response to his gesture, they have five minutes of prayer together before concluding that they will stick with Cipher for the time being, but instead of helping them, they will do whatever they can to secretly hurt and eventually expose them for what they are to the authorities as payback for their being tricked to join Cipher and as just retribution for all the wrong they have done in the past themselves. With peace of mind achieved and their consciences cleared, they waste no more time heading to bed, falling asleep rather quickly after such a long day battling and such.

The following morning, Ember and Rockwell review the contents of a special folder full of files on Cipher, including a brief synopsis of their organization's history and past thwarted attempts by a pair of powerful local Pokémon trainers – one an ex-criminal himself and the other an ordinary kid. There is also a bio and picture of every single Cipher admin, as well as the organization's boss and underboss. "Hmm… so according to this, there's a military-esque chain of command in Cipher: a boss, an underboss, several admins, a dozen commanders, a score of captains, and plenty of peons. I'm gonna be the highest-ranking commander. A supreme commander, if you will. You'll be my right-hand dog!" Ember informs Rockwell, giggling and petting him. "Ha ha, I always am!" he replies happily, yipping and wagging his tail in excitement. They play around a bit before getting ready for the day ahead and enjoying another complimentary breakfast buffet at the hotel. Immediately afterwards, they sightsee around town a few hours, have a light lunch, and go to the Phenac Colosseum to Pokémon train together with her new team. All set from an hour's worth of training, they sit in a luxury suite in the colosseum, enjoying the battles going on between challengers and the lower-ranking trainers there below them. Occasionally during intermissions, they would play a quick tune on their guitars on a special stage in the arena's center, performing one of many possible songs they have covered before, sometimes even throwing in a new one just for the fun of it. The first song performed every day, they decided, would be "RemEmber" for sure, since their fans most closely associated it with them more than any other song in their career's history and likely always would.

On their first day at the colosseum, no trainer climbs the ladder high enough to face them, but by the end of the week, a couple do, only to be completely crushed by Ember's beastly battling skills, primarily from her strategy employing paralysis and attraction while using discharge to boost her Pokémon's performance via their special abilities (i.e. lightning rod, volt absorb, and motor drive). This strategy soon became her signature one for double battles, at least here in Orre. One after another, every trainer brave and competent enough to face her fell in battle, usually without even much effort necessary on Ember's part to achieve a victory – this was in part to their exceptional battling skills, overall team synergy, and the acquisition of a special rare mega stone called _manectite_ , which Rockwell could make expert use of if the situation called for it. She quickly became the fan favorite of most everyone in the crowd, and Rockwell got a lot of publicity too by extension. "Who do we want?" the local colosseum announcer would call out over the loudspeaker just before the daily arrival of Ember and Rockwell. "Ember and Rockwell!" the crowd would shout back. "When do we want 'em?" the announcer would ask. "NOW!" the crowd would respond, going wild when the two young celebrities actually made their appearance in the arena's center out of a swirling cloud of artificial fog and laser lights. Besides the thrill of battling and the roar of the crowd both being equally pleasing for Ember and Rockwell to experience, it was really sharing all that together that made it all truly worthwhile, not to mention the hefty paychecks Cipher would proudly present them with at the end of each week. By the end of their first month there, they had already collectively amassed a monetary total of over $5,000,000, with Ember usually earning about 50% more than Rockwell on average. He was perfectly fine with that, though, since she was his master and without her raising him as a pup, he would never be where he was today; this was equally true for Ember too, as she would gladly admit, but she was the human and he was the animal. That was what they and the vast majority of society considered to be good and right, and in fact it was, with both man and beast living alongside one another in perfect harmony, each knowing and respecting the other's place in the world. The two of them performing onstage together was a truly beautiful sight to behold, most would say, and they were both inspiring and touching in their own rights as an owner/pet pairing.

Once they felt settled into their roles as the primary opposition for ace trainers from all over the country at the renowned Phenac Colosseum – earning Cipher's trust in the process – Ember used the authority of her special position as supreme commander to find out as much as possible about Cipher's latest shadow Pokémon plot, including such things as details on their previous two failed shadow Pokémon excursions and the identities of those that stopped them before: a then teenager named Wes and a then preteen named Michael. Ember showed keen interests in meeting both of them at some point, not necessarily to challenge them, but merely to better understand what it took to take down Cipher single-handedly like they did. Besides simply asking fellow Cipher employees, both she and Rockwell used their ghost powers to sneak about Cipher's bases, including the Shadow Pokémon Lab, the Cipher Key Lair, and their previous headquarters on Citadark Isle. Their newest primary abode was no longer on the isle and was instead apparently in a foreboding-sounding place called Danger Canyon. They had yet to find the canyon's exact location, although they had a general idea of where it probably was: somewhere along the northeastern fringes of the Orre Desert. It was not too long before the word got out among the local news media that Cipher was indeed back and plotting a scheme far greater than their previous two combined, with the FBI calling for anyone with the wherewithal and Pokémon battling skills to sign up for the task of apprehending the organization's leaders. The two most qualified for the job, of course, are Wes and Michael. Working together, they officially declare war on Cipher in a TV interview, preparing to head to each known Cipher base one by one until they all fall just as they did before.

"And so it begins. Looks like we'd better secretly meet up with these guys and let them know we're on their side if we can," Rockwell states at the end of a hot summer evening. "I dunno about that boy. Who's to say if we reveal we're working for Cipher to them, they might just try to citizen's arrest us instead? I'm pretty sure that even our high-profile celebrity status wouldn't be able to save us from the likely stiff consequences of aiding Cipher," Ember explains, Rockwell nodding and sighing in recognition of that specific likelihood. "There's just gotta be a way out of all this, I just know it. Hmm…," he ponders out loud. "Don't worry Rocky, we'll find the way in due time, I'm sure. We're both highly adaptable in battling and in life, so I've no doubt in our abilities to find an eventual solution to all this. Cheer up, will ya? We've got a lot of sightseeing to look forward to this weekend, and tomorrow's Friday," she assures him, gingerly stroking the back of his head. "All right. Pray about it with me, okay?" he requests. She nods, and together they say their own silent prayers hand in paw. Sleep soon comes calling, and they take whatever rest they can get while they still can, for unbeknownst to them both, things were about to get pretty hectic sooner than later.

The next week, Ember and Rockwell are relocated to the Shadow Pokémon Lab to oversee lower-ranked members of Cipher there as they were mounting a defensive position against the combined efforts of Orre champions Wes and Michael: a truly intimidating Pokémon battling juggernaut. They were second in command only to chief scientist and Cipher admin Ein. Like Ember, he was a Pokémon trainer specializing in the electric type, as were many of his scientist subordinates. He even had his own Manectric, as well as a Jolteon and several similar Pokémon, including a shadow Electrike. Rockwell in particular was appalled at how he treated his Pokémon, with him clearly favoring his Jolteon over his Manectric and occasionally lashing out abusively at the poor shadow Electrike, who would often cower in fear in a corner whenever that would happen. _"Gee, that young pup reminds me of myself when I was his age. Poor little guy… I swear Cipher won't continue to get away with this evil plan!"_ Rockwell thinks as he stealthily sneaks around the mostly underground compound in his ghost form. He also discovers that the so-called "shadow" effect of Cipher's specially engineered Pokémon is actually a very harmful disease that gradually builds up inside the Pokémon's body like a cancer, ultimately killing it via an overload of its own power. Since Cipher could just keep replacing its shadow Pokémon as often as needed through their underworld ties in the black market, there was seemingly no way to stop them from doing this without the forcible dismantling of the entire syndicate.

When Dr. Ein was busy rallying his troops while Wes and Michael were futilely attempting to breach the tight security measures of the facility, Rockwell covertly sends a localized power surge into the lab's central mainframe, frying its internal circuitry and causing the security systems inside and outside the lab to fail in unison. "Curses, they must've somehow found a way to hack the mainframe remotely! All units, prepare for enemy engagement, stat!" Ein orders over the lab's still functional intercom. Wes and Michael are shocked to see the security somehow shut down, particularly since they know it was not their own deliberate doing. They quickly shrug that wonderment off and infiltrate the facility, easily taking down any Cipher goons in their way. When they get to Dr. Ein himself, a pitched battle ensues, with both sides taking significant losses in the process. Wes and Michael do indeed emerge victorious in the end, forcing Ein to embarrassingly concede to their might once more. Considering that Wes had snagged Ein's shadow Electrike during the battle, Rockwell invisibly drops a note from the ceiling that lands into Wes's grasp. It reads: "Nice going guys, keep it up! Oh, and please take good care of that Electrike too! – RVM." Puzzled by this note's sudden appearance as well as the lab security system's unexpected failure earlier, Wes and Michael get a strange feeling that someone within Cipher's own ranks must be aiding them somehow.

As it turns out, this unanticipated help would indeed continue when Wes and Michael headed to the Cipher Key Lair to continue shutting down Cipher's intact bases. When they arrive there, they discover that the entire security system is also down, as well as the lights, with the place relying on backup power just enough to maintain the most vital functions at the facility, including backup lighting. Shadow Pokémon production is halted indefinitely, though, much to Gorigan's dismay. "Gah… what the heck's going on?! Is our technology cursed or what? Gr… I've got to call Grandmaster Greevil at once!" Gorigan complains loudly in his upstairs office, getting on the phone to contact this mysterious Greevil person. _"Heh heh heh… I'm your 'curse' buddy, ha!"_ an invisible ghostly Rockwell thinks to himself as he spies on Gorigan from the ceiling. _"Now then, let's see who this so-called Grandmaster Greevil is,"_ he continues to muse. Soon enough, Grandmaster Greevil appears on a large monitor mounted on Gorigan's back office wall. Rockwell takes note of everything exchanged between Gorigan and Greevil, including mentioning the approximate location of Cipher's Danger Canyon base. _"Well well… point taken. I'd better tell Ember about Danger Canyon, and more importantly, who this Greevil guy is. He seems to be the true ultimate boss of Cipher, rather than that Evice person from the Cipher employee files. How very sneaky of them…,"_ Rockwell ponders in disgust, shaking his head and flying away to Ember's personal lower level office. "So, that's the dark dirty truth about Cipher's leadership, huh? Thanks for telling me Rocky. Don't worry, I'll keep them distracted in thinking we're still helping them. That stupid Lovrina bimbo keeps spreading negative rumors about us being undercover outsiders since we're the newest members of Cipher, especially at this high of level," Ember remarks. "Warning, intruder alert!" an alarm suddenly blares all throughout the facility as Wes and Michael breach the perimeter and begin taking on peon after peon with relative ease. "Let's go check this out. This can't be good, at least not for Cipher. Wanna come with?" she asks her favorite canine. "Oh yes!" Rockwell answers her with much pleasure written on his face. They then both enter ghost mode and fly through the floors downstairs to the main lobby of the ground floor.

Just inside the Cipher Key Lair's entrance, Ember and Rockwell find Lovrina desperately attempting to hold her own against the likes of both Wes and Michael simultaneously. She and her prized fairy-type Pokémon fight long and hard, but inevitably, they still succumb to the combined efforts of the two Orre champions. "Ugh… no fair! You two cheated! I can't fight off multiple legendaries like that!" Lovrina pouts. "There're no rules in crime Lovrina. You should know that by now," Wes reminds her with his distinctive smirk, Michael chuckling to himself in the background. "Just suck it up and shut up ya ditzy valley girl," Ember invisibly whispers in Lovrina's ear. To that, Lovrina gets enraged at whoever or whatever said that, ultimately blaming Wes and Michael in lieu of nobody else. While Lovrina continues to whine out loud as Wes and Michael head elsewhere in the facility, Ember cannot resist the urge to overshadow Lovrina and does so, ordering all units under her direct command to surrender (even having her say things like "I'm such a stupid airhead!" about herself over the intercom). "Lovrina, have you gone mad?!" Gorigan yells over the intercom, clearly furious with her decision to surrender her underlings so easily. "No, just dumb sir. Dumb in the head, teehee ha ha ha!" Ember uses Lovrina to respond with before having her phase through all the floors of the building, hover just below the exterior, and unshadow her, causing her to regain her senses just in time to fall into the large lake beneath the building. "How good did that feel?" Rockwell inquires when Ember returns back inside the lair. "You have no idea!" she tells him, smirking satisfactorily. "Now, to deal with Gorigan…," she adds, explaining her plan to Rockwell privately in thorough detail before enacting it with him.

They meet up just outside Gorigan's office, reverting back to their biological forms in time for him to roar over the intercom, "Ember and Rockwell to my office, now! I repeat, Ember and Rockwell to my office, NOW!" "Well, he asked for it," Ember utters in a low voice. "Let's not disappoint him then. After all, he did request us, heh!" Rockwell utters back in a similar voice. Smirking, they enter the office side by side, with much confidence abounding in their demeanors. "You two, tell me what's the meaning of all this! I know you two have something to do with all this! Our security systems at both the lab and here were determined to have been taken offline by an electrical overload of the central mainframe's internal circuitry, and since you're both the newest members of Cipher, it must've been you that caused it!" Gorigan accuses them. "Oh really? And what proof do you have that either of us caused this little security problem of yours?" Ember retorts. "Isn't it obvious? You two come along out of nowhere, are handpicked to join our ranks as fairly high-ranking members, and then suddenly, when our two worst enemies seek to destroy and disband us, our most advanced security systems yet begin failing one after another, and you just so happen to have an electric dog as your best friend at the same time? How coincidental!" Gorigan continues. "Even if it was Rockwell that caused that, so what? It's not like you can do anything about it," Ember asserts, giving Rockwell a quick fist bump and giggling slightly.

This infuriates Gorigan even further, to the point where he reaches under his desk, removes a small box attached to it, and unlocks it with a key, brandishing a pistol and aiming it at Rockwell. "How about this?" Gorigan remarks as his face twists into an unforgiving smirk. As this was not the first time (and likely not the last one, either) somebody aimed a weapon at him, Rockwell maintains his composure and glares straight into Gorigan's eyes. "Oh yeah? Try me!" the feisty Manectric challenges back, going intangible (but not invisible) as Gorigan fires several rounds into Rockwell's head and chest areas, the bullets passing harmlessly through him. Once he is sure that Gorigan's clip has been emptied, Rockwell smirks and says, "My turn." He then discharges a powerful electrical impulse at Gorigan, temporarily paralyzing the large man as his weapon drops harmlessly to the floor. "AGH! It stings so much! You scum-sucking fools!" he screams, twitching helplessly behind his desk. "I think we'll be taking our leave now. Oh, and give Mr. Greevil our regards!" Ember informs him, flicking her ponytail behind her in disapproval as she turns to leave the room, Rockwell doing a similar gesture with his actual tail as he leaves right behind her.

Fortunately for them, Wes and Michael are able to intimidate Cipher Admin Snattle into inadvertently revealing the location of Cipher's main base at Danger Canyon this time rather than at the Realgam Tower or Citadark Isle in times past. They head straight for Danger Canyon pronto, wasting no time in arriving there by sunset. Ember and Rockwell follow just behind them, with Rockwell electrically "hacking" into security systems as needed to permit the champion pair to pass through the base unabated. About halfway through the base, Cipher admins Miror B. and Dakim ambush Wes and Michael, challenging them to a double battle, with both sides having multiple legendaries. Miror B.'s shadow Celebi and Dakim's shadow Ho-oh were no match for Wes's Entei and Suicune, respectively, while Michael's Articuno and Zapdos also did a number on them, too. Of course, they snag the Pokémon rather than knock them out, although the Ho-oh in particular is a pain to catch, being a daunting level 138 rather than the standard maximum of 100. Miror B. flees the base in utter embarrassment, but Dakim dares try to get physical with the two heroes. Wes's Umbreon takes a strong punch for his master in defense of him while his Espeon telekinetically throws the angered admin against the wall on the far side of the room, nearly knocking him unconscious. They leave before he has a chance to recover, with him eventually following Miror B.'s lead and leaving the base as well.

Next, Cipher admins Venus and Ein attempt to halt Wes and Michael's progress, but to no avail as expected, though Venus's level 139 shadow Palkia and Ein's level 140 shadow Zekrom do significant damage to their teams. Even still, Wes and Michael are able to snag both shadowed legendaries and send the two unruly admins packing, though Ein vows vengeance against them and especially whoever has been treacherous within Cipher's own ranks, deliberately aiding Wes and Michael in their quest to take down Cipher. Once the remaining Cipher captains and commanders have all been defeated and ran out of the base, all that remains are the final two admins, the underboss, the boss, and the big bad grandmaster himself. First up are Cipher admins Ardos and Eldes, two brothers working in the service of Cipher. As much as they cannot stand their adversaries' continued persistence against their organization, both of them, especially Eldes, seek to settle this fairly once and for all in a rule-based duel between the four trainers. They would use tournament-inspired rules and regulations, with the only notable exception being the presence of multiple legendaries in battle and the use of shadow Pokémon. The battle begins in the heroes' favor, although that quickly shifts back to the villains' once their shadow Pokémon are released into battle. The older Wes discusses a strategic suggestion with the younger Michael, and they implement the idea successfully against their opponents, weakening one shadow Pokémon – a level 145 Suicune – to the point where it can be snagged and trapping the other one – a level 146 Entei – in a world of paralysis and confusion hax. "Your time is running out for the last time Cipher… just give it up already!" Michael yells in the heat of the battle. "A true warrior never surrenders the fight, but rather goes down only once his last breath has been spent!" Eldes responds loudly, ordering his Salamence to unleash a powerful outrage attack on Michael's Moltres, which barely dodges the first hit but takes the second head on, doing significant damage to the firebird. Michael simply heals it with a max potion and continues the fight.

After a hard-fought battle, Wes and Michael pull off the win, with Ardos feeling rather disappointed at the unexpected loss while Eldes conversely offers the two victors a key piece of advice: if they keep their course steady in achieving their goals, they will ultimately succeed no matter what, even if in an unexpected way, since their motives are far more righteous than those of their adversaries. The defeated admin brothers then go on ahead of Wes and Michael to the deepest lair of the base: the central command center of not only Danger Canyon, but all Cipher throughout the entire region. On their way toward the command center, Wes and Michael are stopped dead in their tracks by none other than Cipher underboss Nascour. "Going somewhere?" he asks rhetorically, a menacing smirk upon his face. "Yeah, to beat you in battle!" Wes replies, entering a battling stance along with Michael as they double team Nascour – a necessary thing since he has got several very powerful Pokémon in his possession, including a level 147 shadow Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. The battle is intense right from the start, with Wes and Michael actually each having a Pokémon knocked out once each during the fight, which they naturally revive and keep using effectively in battle however they can. They execute an improvised plan of Michael's to bait Nascour with one Pokémon and use another to attack the others' weak points while they are still distracted. The strategy pays off well until Nascour reforms his strategy around theirs, countering theirs however possible with a varied mixture of offensive and defensive maneuvers. Their wits about them throughout it all, Wes and Michael clinch a solid eventual victory from their superior battling intellect and teamwork, leaving Nascour to angrily flee the facility almost immediately after the shameful loss. Knowing that only two more opponents remain, they regroup their teams and make sure everyone's in tip-top shape (both mentally and physically) before leaving for the large underground anteroom of the base's command center.

Awaiting them in said anteroom is none other than Evice, the original boss of Cipher before Greevil came along sometime later and took charge of the syndicate, inviting him back to Cipher on one condition: that he loyally obey the grandmaster's every command in exchange for being his second-in-command and general right-hand man. He has lost some weight since he was in jail for a few years prior to being bailed out by a mysterious individual (Greevil in actuality), though he remains noticeably overweight. "So the two pathetic meddling kids and so-called 'champions' of Orre have returned at last to stop us. Bah, bring me your worst foolish interlopers!" Evice scornfully dares the two young heroes. "With pleasure!" Wes answers him confidently, smirking and sending out his initial Pokémon as Michael does the same. As they both soon discover, Evice has not one, not two, but three highly formidable aces up his sleeve: the legendary Hoenn trio (Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza), all at an unprecedented level 148. Undaunted no more so than before despite their newfound quandary, Wes and Michael prove to be even more remarkable strategists than even they likely thought they were, overcoming the mighty odds stacked against them with sheer tenacity and much patience. "Wh… WHAH! NO!" Evice yells in defeat, collapsing on the ground helplessly in a fetal position (well… as much of that position as he could be in, since his chubby gut got in the way). "That's right, cower in shame for your evil actions Evice! You deserve it the way you've abused your Pokémon and threatened the good people of Orre with your nonsense!" Wes proclaims, staring down Evice and ordering his Suicune to douse him with a hydro pump to the face. "I know they say you should clean up your act, but that's a promising start, ha!" Michael remarks with a hearty chuckle. Knowing that their prime adversary lies beyond the giant door leading to the command center, Wes and Michael stare up at the large entryway, as it is currently locked up tight, with no known way to enter it. "Great, we came all this way for nothing if we can't get past this door," Wes thinks out loud, with Michael verifying that Evice in fact does not actually have a card key, code, or any other means of entering that door, since it was designed to only be opened from the inside and only Greevil himself could actually open it from the outside. Suddenly, as Wes and Michael are standing side by side just before the door, they are shoved forward several feet straight through the door, since an invisible Rockwell intangibly helped them bypass it. "That was weird… is it just me, or did we just go _through_ that door?!" Michael exclaims, a surprised expression on his face. "Beats me. Needless to say, we've got little time to figure that out. C'mon, this way!" Wes replies and takes charge, running down a lengthy narrow corridor to a wide open chamber: Cipher's primary command center here in Danger Canyon.

"Welcome to Danger Canyon boys! Go on, impress me… if you DARE!" an unknown individual announces over the intercom. A dense artificial fog settles into the spacious arena in the center of the chamber, with the lighting dimming to a faint shade of red all around. Slowly, carefully, Wes and Michael creep into the arena, watching their backs for a potential ambush and trying hard to see through the fog at whoever is hidden lurking among them. Then, they see it: a shadowy figure hovering toward them in some kind of floating chair. "Wait a minute… I've seen this before! It's…," Michael begins speaking to Wes, only to be interrupted by the third individual, "…Grandmaster Greevil, the world's preeminent Pokémon trainer!" Grinning widely with a sardonic laugh that can only be described as chilling, Greevil hops out of his hoverchair and unveils his Pokéball belt tucked away in his cape. "Greevil! You won't get away with this! I, no… _we_ won't allow it!" Michael assures him with a stark glare. "That goes double for me," Wes adds, readying a Pokéball in his right hand. "Oh, we'll see about that. Me and my entire team of legends! Go my Pokémon, I summon you all to fight on my behalf! CRUSH THEM!" Greevil yells as half his team is released – a shadow Mewtwo, shadow Lugia, and shadow Deoxys, all at an insanely formidable level 149. "Great, a surprise triple battle after all the double battles. Wes, you're the more experienced of us two, so you manage two Pokémon at once," Michael tells him. "Understood, I accept!" Wes replies, releasing his beloved Umbreon and Espeon while Michael releases his equally cherished Jolteon.

"All right team, let's go!" Wes shouts, making the first strike with his Umbreon, who uses foul play on the Mewtwo. It doesn't seem to do much though, considering its level. His Espeon uses shadow ball on the Mewtwo too, double teaming it with his dark brother and doing its best to avoid any incoming counterattacks by the Mewtwo. Michael's Jolteon goes straight for a thunderbolt on the Lugia, paralyzing it on the first go. "Nice, good work boy!" Michael praises him, ordering him to follow up with another thunderbolt ASAP. Greevil has his Mewtwo go after Michael's Jolteon with a powerful psystrike, seriously wounding the poor canine, though Michael quickly heals him with a max potion and keeps him in the fight to continue zapping the Lugia. Greevil growls under his breath and uses one of his many full restores on the Lugia shortly afterwards, having it use an aeroblast on Wes's Espeon, who is protected from the airborne assault by his Umbreon, taking the hit for the defensively weaker Eeveelution and doubling up on the Lugia by hitting it with a foul play attack. The Deoxys also attacks, unleashing a strong psycho boost at the Jolteon, with Umbreon quickly taking position to harmlessly absorb the hit via his natural psychic immunity and Espeon launching a flurry of shadow balls at it in return, most of which hit home. Every time they get the Lugia's health down low enough to attempt to capture it with confidence, Greevil heals it, prolonging the first part of the fight for the good part of an hour. Eventually, Greevil seems to run low on healing items, though Wes and Michael are also nearly halfway through each of their item inventories as well. The Lugia, often fully paralyzed and very weak from all the unhealed thunderbolt damage, does succumb to an ultra ball thrown by Michael, while the Mewtwo is captured by one thrown by Wes roughly ten minutes later and the Deoxys is captured another five minutes after that in another ultra ball from Wes.

The next phase of the battle consists of Wes fielding his Raikou to relieve Michael's Jolteon and his Entei too, while Michael fields his Articuno and Moltres in lieu of Wes's Umbreon and Espeon. Greevil sneers at their efforts, which he still considers futile overall, and sends out a level 149 Genesect and a level 149 Xerneas along with his most prized possession – a level 150 Arceus holding a zap plate. "Oh boy… we'd best status these guys, stat!" Michael advises, to which Wes agrees and has his Raikou use thunder wave on the two rival non-electric Pokémon on the field. Greevil reveals more healing items in his inventory in direct response, using paralyze heals on each paralyzed Pokémon of his until he at last runs out of them. "Blast! Take THIS!" Greevil exclaims in disgust, ordering all three of his Pokémon to triple team each of his opponents' Pokémon until they faint or are forced to be withdrawn by their respective trainers. _"Dang, this guy's no joke, and now he's just playin' dirty in desperation,"_ Wes thinks, having Michael work together with him to imitate their enemy's strategy and triple team his Pokémon back, starting with the Genesect. Being naturally quad-weak to fire-type attacks, it quickly gets weakened by Entei and Moltres repeatedly whenever Greevil attempts to heal it, with Michael eventually capturing it outright after it breaks out of several net balls. However, Greevil soon forces Wes and Michael to use the last of their healing items shortly before he also runs out of his. "Interesting… now it's a truly even fight!" Greevil sarcastically remarks, having now taken out all of Wes and Michael's Pokémon except for the following: Jolteon, Umbreon, Espeon, Suicune, and Flygon. Active on the battlefield currently are Wes's Suicune and Michael's Flygon, who double team the Xerneas with whatever they have in their arsenal while attempting to dodge as many counterattacks from it and the Arceus as possible.

Eventually, the Xerneas is captured by a thrown ultra ball from Michael, but at a stiff price: the Suicune and Flygon are both taken down in the process. All that remains with that out of the way is one enraged mighty electric Arceus. While Wes has a final solution to capture the shadow Pokémon, he still wishes to weaken it as much as possible to make aiming the ball throw at it that much easier. Jolteon mostly serves as the primary distraction for the Arceus, being lightning fast on all fours and occasionally firing off a shadow ball or signal beam at it; Umbreon and Espeon work together to double team the Arceus offensively, with Umbreon taking as many defensive hits as possible since he is highly resilient at taking hits, even despite the fifty level difference. The combined efforts of the three Eeveelutions proves just enough to get the Arceus into low health after nearly five full minutes of hitting and running against it, though in the process, Umbreon is also weakened considerably and Espeon is nearly out of offensive power for the time being. This leaves Jolteon to get the Arceus in the perfect position for Wes to attempt a capture, but at the last second, Arceus leaps into the air and unleashes a massive dark pulse at Espeon. Since Umbreon's too weak to absorb the blow in time and Espeon's too weak to teleport out of the way, Jolteon rushes in and takes the hit for Espeon, receiving considerable damage and being greatly stunned by the move's impact. Just as all hope seems lost for the three weakened Eeveelutions, Wes runs out onto the battlefield and unleashes his secret last resort weapon on the Arceus: a master ball. "Game's over Greevil! You lose!" Wes yells out, activating and throwing the ball at the Arceus and easily capturing it, the situation being infeasible to think it could actually dodge the projectile in such low health. Greevil's jaw drops before he literally lies defeated in a collapsed heap on the ground in a fetal position, the entire arena growing deathly silent as Wes and Michael exchange satisfied glances together.

Shortly after witnessing what can only be assumed to be the final crushing defeat of Cipher, Ardos and Eldes approach their fallen father's side, shaking their heads in unison, though for entirely different reasons – Ardos does so in bitterness at Wes and Michael's joint heroism, while Eldes does so in shame that their father sacrificed so much for all the wrong reasons in life. "I… I can't… I can't believe it… no, this will NOT happen! No, NO!" Greevil utters in anguish. Wes and Michael simply exchange glances with one another and Greevil's sons, much satisfaction emanating from their spirits. "I don't understand it either, father. How do you think they ever even broke through all the many high-tech security systems we had set up throughout the facility here and in previous bases, too?" Ardos speaks up following a full minute of awkward silence. "Perhaps I could be of assistance answering that one," a distinctive male voice responds seemingly from nowhere as Ember and Rockwell become visible behind Greevil and his sons, having been secretly observing that entire showdown together while invisible in their ghost forms.

"Ya see, it was I who hacked your security systems and infiltrated your bases, paving the way for those two sterling trainers over there to be able to defeat you and your evil shadow Pokémon scheme," Rockwell continues with a contented smirk on his face. "Why… you DARE betray Cipher like that, and after all the eminence we gave you in our organization? You will pay for it with your LIFE puny mutt! You hear me?! GAH!" Greevil screams at Rockwell, pulling a strange remote control device hidden in his cape and preparing to activate it. Before he can, Rockwell's literally lightning-fast reflexes save the day and zap the remote out of his hand and into pieces. "Good boy Rocky, heh heh!" Ember praises him with a chuckle. "NO! Not the emergency base self-destruct remote! YOU… aw, just nooooooooooOOOOOOOOOO!" the defeated Cipher leader cries out in vain. "Seriously guy, you were actually trying to kill all of us here just because you lost a stupid battle with scientifically augmented Pokémon?! You really need to get a life! Even I wanna slap you, and I'm not usually the kind of girl to do that," Ember exclaims, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "You're usually the kind of girl to punch a guy before slapping him rather than the other way around, ain't that right Emmy?" Rockwell reveals, chuckling and giving Ember a gentle nudge. "Oh hush you!" she responds, nudging him back a little harder than he first did. "TRAITORS! When I get my hands on you, I'll…," Greevil begins, only to be interrupted by Ember roaring back with a resounding, "Just shut UP!" She is so angry in her response that she accidentally unleashes a ghostly wail at him on the sustained word _up_ , sending him flying back several feet, her eyes glowing brightly green for a moment before slowly fading back to their usual amber color. "Whoa, I didn't know I had that in me!" she tells herself with a surprised look. Equally surprised is Rockwell, who seizes the moment to unleash a ghostly howl of his own at Greevil while the Cipher leader is still attempting to recover, further propelling him back across the arena another dozen feet or so. "Looks like I can do that too. Cool!" Rockwell states, wearing a confident smirk aimed directly at Greevil. "Father, we're leaving now," Eldes informs Greevil, taking him by the hand out of the base with Ardos right behind him after thanking Ember and Rockwell for their helping to sabotage his misled father's final dark plan. "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya dipstick!" Ember waves mockingly at Greevil as he exits, with Rockwell seconding that motion.

Wes and Michael take the time to chat with Ember and Rockwell on their way out of the Danger Canyon base, recalling many epic memories of their exploits in helping take down Cipher for the third and presumably final time. "So, what inspired you guys to help us out? You were on the other side, after all," Wes asks them. "In name only, though. We were conned into joining them at first, but once Rocky here found out the true intentions of Cipher, we secretly plotted to take them down. Once you two got involved, our plan was simple: help you by any means necessary behind the scenes, and that's what we did. Rocky did the majority of the work, while I continued to leak any important information about Cipher that I overheard from fellow employees to him so he could use it," Ember explains. "And I was all the better for it, too, thanks to Ember's part in this. She's my number one biological influence in life, I should tell you," Rockwell admits, giving Ember a gentle nuzzle and wagging his tail briefly. "Aw, thank you Rocky! That's so sweet," she replies, her face alight with joy. They hug, and as they do so, Wes and Michael cannot resist chuckling at the spontaneous display of affection between trainer and Pokémon – between human and animal. Leaving the main hidden entrance of Danger Canyon, the two Orre champions and the two rock superstars bid each other farewell for now and go their separate ways, both parties being equally satisfied with the result of defeating Cipher together.

Local and national news reports are abuzz on the hotel television back in Ember and Rockwell's suite in Phenac City, with several popular pundits covering the thrilling story with all due fervor as most of the prominent Cipher members are arrested by the FBI, including Grandmaster Greevil himself; Eldes is pardoned for his part in Cipher's crimes since he helped prevent his father from killing Michael five years earlier when Cipher last attempted to succeed in their nefarious shadow Pokémon scheme. He instead considers becoming an honorary tournament host at Mt. Battle, serving as the interim area leader for Area 9 in place of that area's usual leader, who is soon retiring from their services at the mountain. "What an adventure our little vacation turned out to be, eh Rocky?" remarks Ember as she gingerly strokes the back of Rockwell's head. "You know it! Glad to know the side of good and justice prevailed in the end. Being a part of the administration thereof is a truly incredible honor straight from Heaven itself!" he replies, his tail wagging steadily throughout their conversation. They spend what remains of their final week in Orre having some proper sightseeing around the region, visiting everything from bustling harbor town Gateon Port to the isolated Outskirt Stand in the middle of the southeastern Orre Desert. They also take the Mt. Battle challenge using five carefully selected rental Pokémon to fill out their team's ranks, and despite several tough battles at the end, they emerge victorious with a perfect 100-win streak. They receive a pair of special medallions for their astounding accomplishment, Ember's being specially emblazoned with a flame symbol and Rockwell's with a lightning symbol. That Sunday, they finally return home to their Amity Park abode, being more than ready to escape the annoying valley girls and scorching heat of the southern California coast.

Monday morning starts dark and dreary for Ember, with a steady rain falling outside from a small thunderstorm overhead. She lies in bed, her body tired but soul restless. Many memories remain on the forefront of her mind: her troubled childhood, her parents always blaming her for seemingly everything half the time, her meeting Rockwell as an Electrike puppy, her first battle with him, their terrible accident that gave them their ghost powers, their first official concert as signed recording artists, their first time encountering Danny Phantom, their pinnacle conflict with Vlad Plasmius, and most recently, their whole ordeal with Cipher that they barely escaped from. Inside, she feels drained, not wanting to move at all since arriving back home the other day. _"Ugh… I don't feel like doing anything today. I guess taking down Cipher takes a toll on oneself, heh,"_ she calmly thinks. She prays a silent prayer to herself, turning slightly in her bed in an effort to get even a little more comfortable than before.

Rockwell, noticing his mistress's abnormal behavior from across the room, senses something must be up with her. He knew her better than anyone else – that much was certain. Seeing the perfect opportunity to brighten her spirits, he quietly pads across the room to her bedside and licks the bottom of her overhanging foot. Instantly, Ember reacts, pulling her leg back onto the bed and beneath the safety of the sheets, giggling. "Ha ha, Rocky! Well good morning to you too, mister," she exclaims, smiling weakly and sitting upright. "C'mere you!" she beckons. Naturally, he obliges like any loyal canine would and leaps onto the bed beside her. "Remember this?" he says, revealing a small Pichu squeaky toy he used to play with as a pup from one of his boxer pockets and making it squeak a couple times successively. "How could I ever forget it? It's the very first toy I ever bought you," she tells him before giving him a gentle pat on the head. "Yup, but to me, it means a lot more. It represents a young girl's love for a certain Electrike pup by her buying him this little trinket with her meager allowance. For that, I'll be forever grateful to you," he states with a happy expression. To that, Ember just smiles, pulling Rockwell beside her and hugging him tightly, responding, "And I'm forever grateful to you just for having you! Thank God for you, Rocky!" The two of them share a tender moment together reminiscing a while longer as the rain ceases outside and the clouds part to reveal a brilliant sunrise. Looking outside their large bedroom window, they cannot help but enjoy the view. To them, it symbolizes hope anew: the hope for a bright and promising future. Turning to Ember, Rockwell smirks with his eyes aglow and says, "You know Ember, there's literally a whole wide out there waiting for us. Are you willing to join me in rocking it?" Smirking right back at her beloved dog with eyes similarly aglow to his, Ember replies, "You bet! Let's do it!" Feeling completely reinvigorated by their constant faith in the Lord and in one another, they stand up and make plans at once to kick off a brand new worldwide concert tour.


	12. After All

**Chapter 12: "After All"**

Ember and Rockwell's worldwide concert tour takes them to all six inhabited continents and one hundred major cities, from as far north as Anchorage, Alaska to as far south as Stanley (the capital of the Falkland Islands). Everywhere they went, they spread and support Christian "rebellion" as the correct alternative to the world's evil version of it, which includes being in the world, but not of the world as Christ Himself once commanded. Abstaining from alcohol, other drugs, and premarital sex, for instance, were all publicly and proudly espoused by Ember and Rockwell at every concert they performed at. They even mixed in the occasional Christian or morally inclined secular cover song in their setlists. Civil responsibility was similarly promoted by them, both of them being independently registered voters (though animals like Rockwell could only vote for animal-level officials rather than human-level ones like Ember could, and vice versa). Much of the media was abuzz with how good these two young artists had become, both in actuality and in appearance. Through and through, they had truly improved morally and repented of their past sinful mistakes, the change never being more apparent than now. Having been forgiven by God and man alike, they publicly apologized for any prior injustices they had been a part of, whether knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or inadvertently. "Wow, what a stark contrast from the Ember and Rockwell of yesterday! The change has never been more obvious than now, and these two bright new artists are on a comeback bigger and better than anyone ever thought possible, even themselves! Incredible! Even though I myself am not a Christian, they forever have my respect!" a famous popular culture analyst announces on an evening news program one night a couple weeks after their concert tour begins.

Closely following Christ' recommendations to His followers, they always tithed well over 10% of their income to great Christian causes around the world, each of them starting their own individual charities as well as one jointly managed one. Ember's personal charity was The Ember Foundation Against Drug Abuse, which helped people of all ages end their addictions and go through any necessary rehabilitation afterwards. Rockwell's personal charity was The Rockwell Foundation for Leukemia, which provided treatment for the illness as well as financial support for afflicted families and individuals, even covering the entire bill in many cases. Their jointly managed and promoted charity was The Rockwell and Ember Alliance for Parenting, or REAP for short, which helped support parents in better understanding their children to love them more, raise them better, and keep them out of trouble as best they can, with a distinct emphasis on the importance of genuine faith and morals throughout it all. "Parents really do _REAP_ what they sow, don't they Rocky?" Ember asks him with a confident smirk. "You know it Emmy! We'll do best to keep that in mind for our own future children," Rockwell replies. Little did he know that soon enough, he would be taking the next step to do just that.

Along their European leg of their global concert tour, Ember and Rockwell are just getting ready to perform for the people of Berlin, Germany when a certain someone catches Rockwell's eye in the front row of the crowd. _"Hello, what have we here?"_ he thinks, smiling slightly nervously at the attractive young female Manectric before him. He checks the setlist, and chuckles upon noticing the next song is Chicago's "Will You Still Love Me." As he performs it, he cannot help but stare at the Manectric girl rather noticeably at times, which Ember quickly catches on to midway through the song; this is especially true whenever Rockwell repeats the line: "I can't go on if I'm on my own." She just smiles at him throughout the song, as well as for most of the remainder of the concert. The Manectric girl is in attendance with a couple close friends of hers, and after the concert is finished, Rockwell specifically asks an attendant to bring the Manectric backstage to meet and greet Ember and him personally. "Hi there, heh heh! As you probably know, I'm Rockwell Manectric, and this is my master Ember McLaine. And you are?" he inquires of the female Manectric. "My name is Elektra. Elektra Blitza von Voltenso," she replies in a remarkably clear, but noticeable German accent. "Elektra, is it? How shockingly exotic!" Rockwell remarks, smirking. To that, Elektra giggles, wagging her tail slowly. "It is, isn't it? Ha ha! I'm so delighted to meet both of you like this," she says. "Hey, the pleasure is ours, though I think Rocky's the one that's truly excited to see you," Ember exclaims as she moves to give Rockwell a playful nudge. "Aw, Emmy!" he mutters, making a particularly handsome canine face and whimpering cutely, ears flattened in coy embarrassment. The three of them then take a moment to share a few laughs, having much pleasant conversation for the remainder of the evening. Rockwell makes sure to acquire Elektra's cell phone number before they part ways, both heading to their respective residences for the night (his being temporary for obvious reasons).

Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months as Rockwell and Elektra continue to get to know one another, beginning to officially date after roughly half a year after they first met. They make many wonderful memories together as she follows him and Ember on the remainder of their worldwide tour, with the popular media quickly growing abuzz over the fact that Rockwell was no longer single. However, Rockwell was not destined to be the only one who would find a potential mate on their longwinded tour. Ember would also have her fair chance at love too, in the form of a young man of average height and physique named Michael Philip Bryan. They initially met as part of a potential business proposition, with him offering to help manage both herself and Rockwell… if they wanted him to. Since doing so would help them make and keep concert schedules, meet deadlines, and many other similar tasks, they decide to bring him onboard, working together with him several times a week to start. In the process, he and Ember gradually develop a playful crush for one another, and eventually, she somewhat alludes to it in a side conversation, with him ultimately coming right out and saying how he really feels by the end of it. She accepts, but not after a few days' deliberation and discussion with Rockwell regarding her imminent potentially life-altering decision. They decide to date very steadily at first, taking things slow so they don't rush into anything too foolishly; this is considering the fact that they have both been hurt before by previous similar relationships that ended up failing miserably. "So you can plainly understand why I'm willing and committed to staying steady, correct?" Michael explains to Ember late one night early in their romantic relationship. Turning to smile back at him, she replies, "Absolutely. I definitely wouldn't want a repeat of what happened before both times either, especially the one involving my parents' interference. I just can't _stand_ it when they do things like that, ugh!" "Don't stress out too much about it. The past is past, after all," he assures her, moving to place a caring hand on one of her shoulders. She nods slowly, smiling and feeling much better knowing that that would likely never happen again, and even if so, certainly not quite like it had before.

By the end of the year on New Year's Eve 2005, Ember and Rockwell are more than proud of their many accomplishments so far in their young lives. Looking back on their relatively rough childhood and puphood, respectively, they notice and appreciate the fact that they have both come so far so fast – like a literal rollercoaster ride of events, each one leading to the next in spectacular neverending fashion. Just before the stroke of midnight that evening in Time Square in downtown New York City, they end the night with an exuberant and deeply inspirational (and slightly lyrically altered) duet cover performance of Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love." To everyone else, the song is much appreciated, but to each of them, it was personal: a pledge of lifelong devotion toward one another as master and pet, as girl and dog… as Ember and Rockwell!

 _ **The End!**_


	13. Epilogue

***Epilogue***

January 6, 2006, 6:00 AM CDT – DOWNTOWN AMITY PARK: There is nary a stir in the darkened back hallways of the R&D department of the Amity Park Medical Plaza's main building. Sitting alone at his desk in a lab coat and gloves is a lone doctor studying something quite intriguing beneath the lens of a large electron microscope. His countenance is sedate and intense, his methods steadfast and efficient. _"There it is again… and again… and again! The signal is persistent enough. Just a few more minutes of research, and I should be concluded…,"_ he muses. Surely enough, a few more minutes pass, and the doctor has finalized his nightly research. _"There's no doubt, this is definitely happening!"_ he thinks, immediately calling for another doctor to join him in perusing his incredible discovery. After briefly peer reviewing the evidence at hand, the other doctor nods slowly and sighs, pausing for a moment before stating, "This is exactly what we had feared, but we can deny it no longer! It's official: ectoplasmic radiation causes instability in cellular activities so as to greatly increase the aging and subsequent breakdown of cell DNA twice, possibly even thrice as rapidly as standard cell DNA, or perhaps even faster! It's occurrence is transspecies too, at least as far as we can feasibly tell. More research shall continue to be done, but until then, please make haste to contact each known victim of this atrocity at once!" The researching doctor gasps as they both exchange a wide-eyed stare and make haste to continue their efforts in their newfound quest: to find a cure for this deadly new ecto-disease.

 _ **To be continued…!**_


End file.
